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GULLIVER’S TRAVELS 


ilHannillau’0 pocket American anti lEnjglfis!) Classics 


A Senes of English Texts, edited for use in Secondary Schools, 
with Critical Introductions, Notes, etc. 


l6mo. Cloth. 25c. each. 


Addison’s Sir Roger de Coverley. 
Browning’s Shorter Poems. 

Browning, Mrs., Poems (Selected). 
Burke’s Speech on Conciliation. 
Byron’s Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. 
Byron’s Shorter Poems. 

Carlyle’s Essay on Burns. 

Chaucer’s Prologue and Knight’s Tale. 
Coleridge’s The Ancient Mariner. 
Cooper’s The Deerslayer. 

Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans. 
De Quincey’s Confessions of an 
English Opium-Eater. 

Dryden’s. Palamon and Arcite. 

Early American Orations, 1760-1 824. 
Edwards' (Jonathan) Sermons. 

Eliot’s Silas Marner. 

Epoch-making Papers in U. S. History. 
Franklin’s Autobiography. 

Goldsmith’s The Vicar of Wakefield. 
Hawthorne’s Twice-told Tales (Selec- 
tions from).’ 

Irving’s Life of Goldsmith. 

Irving’s The Alhambra. 

Irving’s Sketch Book. 

Longfellow’s Evangeline. 

Lowell’s The Vision of Sir Launfal. 
Macaulay’s Essay on Addison. 
Macaulay’s Essay on Hastings. 
Macaulay’s Essay on Lord Clive. 
Macaulay’s Essay on Milton. 


Macaulay’s Lays of Ancient Rom.e. 
Macaulay’s Life of Samuel Johnson. 
Milton’s Comus and Other Poems. 
Milton’s Paradise Lost, Bks. 1 and II. 
Old English Ballads. 

Palgrave’s Golden Treasury. 
Plutarch’s Lives (Caesar, Brutus, and 
Mark Antony). 

Poe’s Poems. 

Poe’s Prose Tales (Selections from). 
Pope’s Homer’s Iliad. 

Ruskin’s Sesame and Lilies. 

Scott’s Ivanhoe. 

Scott’s Lady of the Lake. 

Scott’s Lay of the Last Minstrel. 
Scott’s Marmion. 

Shakespeare’s As You Like It. 
Shakespeare’s Hamlet. 
Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. 
Shakespeare’s Macbeth. 
Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice. 
Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. 
Shelley and Keats : Poems. 

Southern Poets : Selections. 

Spenser’s Faerie Queene, Book I. 
Stevenson’s Treasure Island. 
Tennyson’s Idylls of the King. 
Tennyson’s The Princess. 
Tennyson’s Shorter Poems. 
Woolman’s Journal. 

Wordsworth’s Shorter Poems. 


OTHERS TO FOLLOW. 




Gulliver and the Houyhnhnms 

(See page 179) 



GULLIVER’S TRAVELS 


INTO SEVERAL REMOTE NATIONS OF 
THE WORLD 

BY 

JONATHAN SWIFT 


EDITED, WITH NOTES AND AN INTEODUCTION 
BY 

CLIFTON JOHNSON 


Neto gotE 

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd. 

1904 


All rights reserved 


lUBPARY nf 00N6RESS 
tVro OoBtes ffBGBived 

SEP 24 1904 

eht Entry 
0L/(33 A XXo. Na 
COPY B 





> 


Copyright, 1904, 

By the MACMILLAN COMPANY. 


Set up and electrotyped. Published September, 1904. 



Nortoooh 'l^rcss 

J. S. Cushing & Co. — Lerwick & Smith Co. 
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 


CONTENTS 


^ Introduction 


PAGE 

vii 


Part I 

VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT 

CHAPTER I 

The Author gives ‘some Account of Himself and Family — 

His First Inducements to Travel — He is Shipwrecked, 
and Swims for his Life — Gets safe on Shore in the 
Country of Lilliput — Is made a Prisoner . . . 1 

CHAPTER II 

The Emperor of Lilliput, attended by several of the Nobility, 
comes to see the Author in his Confinement — The Em- 
peror’s Person and Costume described — Learned Men 
appointed to teach the Author their Language — He gains 
Favor by his mild Disposition — His Pockets are searched, 
and his Sword and Pistols taken from him . . .11 

CHAPTER III 

The Author entertains the Emperor, and his Nobility of both 
sexes, in a very uncommon manner — The Diversions of 
the Court of Lilliput described — The Author has his 
Liberty granted to him upon certain conditions . . 20 

V 


vi 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER IV 

PAGE 

Mildendo, the metropolis of Lilliput, described, together with 
the Emperor’s Palace — A conversation between the 
Author and a Principal Secretary concerning the affairs 
of that Empire — The Author’s offers to serve the Em- 
peror in his wars 28 


CHAPTER V 

The Author, by an extraordinary stratagem, prevents an In- 
vasion — A high Title is conferred upon him — Ambassa- 
dors arrive from the Emperor of Blefuscu, and sue for 
Peace 33 


CHAPTER VI 

Of the Inhabitants of Lilliput ; their Learning, Laws, and 
Customs ; the Manner of Educating their Children — The 
Author’s way of living in that Country .... 38 


CHAPTER VII 

The Author, being informed of a Design to accuse him of 
High-treason, makes his Escape to Blefuscu — His Recep- 
tion there 45 


CHAPTER VIII 

The Author, by a lucky accident, finds means to leave Ble- 
fuscu ; and after some difficulties, returns safe to his 
native Country 52 


CONTENTS 


vii 


Part II 

A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG 

CHAPTER I 

PAGE 

A great Storm ; the Long-boat sent to fetch water, the Author 
goes with it to discover the Country — He is left on shore, 
is seized by one of the natives, and carried to a Farmer’s 
House — Plis reception, with several Accidents that hap- 
pened there — A Description of the Inhabitants . . 61 

CHAPTER II 

A Description of the Farmer’s Daughter — The Author car- 
ried to a Market-town, and then to the Metropolis — The 
Particulars of his Journey 71* 

CHAPTER III 

The Author is sent for to Court — The Queen buys him of his 
master the P^armer, and presents him to the King — He 
disputes with his Majesty’s great Scholars — An Apart- 
ment at Court provided for the Author — He is in high 
favor with the Queen — He defends the honor of his own 
Country — He quarrels with the Queen’s Dwarf . . 77 

CHAPTER IV 

The Country described — A proposal for correcting modern 
Maps — The King’s Palace, and some account of the 
Metropolis — The Author’s way of travelling — The chief 
Temple 87 


CONTENTS 


viii 


CHAPTER V 

PAGE 

Several Adventures that happened to the Author — The 

Author shows his skill in Navigation .... 92 

CHAPTER VI 

Several contrivances of the Author to please the King and 
Queen — He shows his skill in Music — The King inquires 
into the state of England, which the Author relates to 
him — The King’s observations thereon .... 100 

CHAPTER VII 

The Author’s love of his Country — He makes a proposal of 
much advantage to the King, which is rejected — The 
King’s great ignorance in Politics — The Learning of that 
Country very imperfect and confined — Their Laws, and 
Military Affairs, and Parties in the State . . . 106 

CHAPTER VIII 

The King and Queen make a progress to the frontiers — The 
Author attends them — The manner in which he leaves 
the Country very particularly related — He returns to 
England 112 


Part III 

A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA, BALNIBARBI, LUGG- 
NAGG, GLUBBDUBDBIBB, AND JAPAN 

CHAPTER I 

The Author sets out on his third Voyage — Is taken by Pirates 
— The malice of a Dutchman — His arrival at an Island — 

He is received into Laputa 127 


CONTENTS 


IX 


CHAPTER II 

PAGE 

The Humors and Dispositions of the Laputians described — 

An account of their Learning — Of the King and his 
Court — The Author’s reception there — The Inhabitants 
subject to fears and disquietudes — A Description of the 
Flying Island — The King’s method of suppressing In- 
surrections ' 133 


CHAPTER III 


The Author leaves Laputa, is conveyed to Balnibarbi, arrives 
at the Metropolis — A Description of the Metropolis and 
the Country adjoining — The Author hospitably received 
by a great Lord — His conversation with that Lord . 142 


CHAPTER IV 

The Author permitted to see the Grand Academy of Lagado 
— The Academy described — The Arts wherein the Pro- 
fessors employ themselves ...... 148 

CHAPTER V 

The Author leaves Lagado — Arrives at Maldonada — No ship 
ready — He takes a short voyage to Glubbdubdribb — 

His reception by the Governor 154 

CHAPTER VI 

The Author’s return to Maldonada — Sails to the Kingdom 
of Luggnagg — The Author confined — He is sent for to 
Court — The manner of his Admittance — The King’s 
great Lenity to his Subjects , 159 


X 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER VII 

PAGE 

The Luggnaggians commended — A particular Description of 
the Struldbrugs, with many Conversations between the 
Author and some eminent Persons upon that subject — 

The Author leaves Luggnagg, and sails to Japan — 
Thence he goes in a Dutch ship to Amsterdam, and 
from Amsterdam to England . 163 

Part IV 

A VOYAGE TO THE COUNTRY OF 
THE HOUYHNHNMS 

CHAPTER I 

The Author sets out as Captain of a Ship — His Men conspire 
against him — Confine him a long time to his Cabin — 

Set him on shore in an Unknown Land — He travels up 
into the Country — The Yahoos, a strange sort of Animal, 
described — The Author meets two Houyhnhnms . . 175 

CHAPTER II 

The Author conducted by a Houyhnhnm to his House — The 
House described — The Author’s reception — The Food 
of the Houyhnhnms — The Author’s manner of feeding 
in this Country 182 


CHAPTER III 

The Author studies to learn the Language — The Houyhnlinm, 
his Master, assists in teaching him — The Language de- 
scribed — Several Houyhnhnms of quality come out of 
curiosity to see the Author — He gives his Master a short 
account of his Voyage- 188 


CONTENTS xi 

CHAPTER IV 

PAGE 

The Houyhnhnms’ notion of Truth and Falsehood — The Au- 
thor’s discourse disapproved by his Master — The Author 
gives a more particular account of himself, and the Acci- 
dents of his Voyage 192 


CHAPTER V 

The Author, at his Master’s command, informs him of Eng- 
land — The causes of war among the Princes of Europe 
— The Author explains the condition of England under 
Queen Anne 197 

CHAPTER VI 

The Author’s great Love of his native Country — His Master’s 
observations upon the Constitution and Administration 
of England, as described by the Author, with Parallel 
Cases and Comparisons — Plis Master’s observations upon 
Human Nature 204 


CHAPTER VII 

The Author relates several Particulars of the Yahoos — The 
great Virtues of the Houyhnhnms — The Education and 
Exercise of their Youth — Their General Assembly . 209 

CHAPTER VIII 

A grand debate at the General Assembly of the Houyhnhnms 
— The Learning of the Houyhnhnms — Their Buildings 
— Their Manner of Burial— The Defectiveness of their 
Language 212 


xii CONTENTS 

CHAPTER IX 

PAGE 

The Author’s happy Life among the Houyhnhnms — His 
great improvement in Virtue by conversing with them 
— Their Conversations — The Author has notice given 
him by his Master that he must depart from the Country 
— He falls into a swoon for grief, but submits — He 
contrives and finishes a Canoe by the help of a fellow- 
servant, and puts to sea at a venture . . . .217 

CHAPTER X 

The Author’s dangerous Voyage — He arrives at New Holland 
— Is wounded with an arrow by one of the Natives — Is 
seized, and carried by force into a Portuguese ship — The 
great civilities of the Captain — The Author arrives in 
England 222 


CHAPTER XI 

The Author’s Veracity — His Censure of those Travellers who 
swerve from the Truth — The Author clears himself from 
any sinister ends in writing — The method of planting 
Colonies — The right of the Crown to those Countries 
described by the Author — The Difficulty of conquering 
them — The Author takes his last leave of the Reader — 
Proposeth his Manner of Living for the future — Gives 
good Advice and concludes 230 


INTRODUCTION 


Jonathan Swift, better known to fame as “Dean” Swift, was 
born on November 30, 1667, in a humble section of Dubiin. 
He was, however, of English parentage, and his father was 
a cousin of the poet Dryden. The father died shortly before 
his son’s birth, and Mrs. Swift and her two children were for 
many years afterward largely dependent on the aid given* them 
by her husband’s brother Godwin. 

At the age of six Swift began his schooling, and when he was 
fourteen he entered Trinity College, Dublin. He did not shine 
as a student ; for he wasted much of his time in desultory 
reading, and his attention was more absorbed in writing personal 
satires and political rhymes than in winning academical honors. 
Worse than that, he belonged to a clique of undergraduates 
remarkable for its turbulent irregularities and breaches of college 
discipline. 

His college course still lacked something of completion when 
it was brought to a sudden close by the business failure of his 
uncle Godwin. This uncle was a lawyer in excellent practice, 
but unfortunate speculations ruined him, and he ultimately died 
insane. Soon after leaving college Swift went to England, where 
he found employment as secretary to Sir William Temple, a 
distant relative of his mother’s. His duties were not very 
exacting, and he had a good deM of time at his own disposal. 
This leisure was not wasted, and he became a serious student, 
and devoted many hours daily to an extensive course of reading. 
So closely did he apply himself that he undermined his health, 

xiii 


XIV 


INTRODUCTION 


and brought on fits of dizziness and deafness. He was subject 
to the return of these spells at intervals all the rest of his life. 

In 1694 Swift decided to enter the Church. A living in the 
north of Ireland, near Belfast, worth one hundred pounds a year, 
was obtained for him ; but he found the region to which he was 
assigned didl and little to his liking. Besides, his conduct was 
such as to provoke scandal in the neighborhood, which made the 
situation the more uncomfortable. Presently there came a letter 
from Sir William Temple, begging his former secretary to return. 
He greatly missed his society and assistance. But Swift did not 
decide to accept this invitation until in one of his walks he 
chanced to meet a brother clergyman, who confided to him that 
he was a curate with a wife and eight children to support on a 
salary of forty pounds a year ; nor had he any hope of promotion. 
When Swift heard this he promptly journeyed to Dublin, resigned 
his own position, and secured the appointment of the poor curate 
in his place. Swift was often accounted harsh and misantliropic, 
but this is one of many instances where his sympathies responded 
nobly to want and suffering. 

For the next two years he acted as Sir William Temple’s 
secretary, the connection ending with that gentleman’s death in 
1699. By the terms of Sir William’s will. Swift was made heir 
to a considerable sum of money, and, as he was prudent and 
even in some ways niggardly, he never was in w^ant again as 
long as he lived. 

Shortly after his patron’s death Swift went to Dublin as the 
secretary of Lord Berkeley. Aside from the ordinary duties of 
his position, it fell to his lot to entertain Lady Berkeley, rather 
oftener than was to his liking, by reading aloud to her. As it 
happened she had a “pious love of sermons,” and her favorite 
book was a ponderous volume of Boyle’s Discourses. One day 
Swift amused himself by substituting a production of his own, 
written strictly in the style of Boyle, which he called a “ Medita- 
tion on a Broomstick.” His manuscript was easily concealed in 


INTRODUCTION 


XV 


the big volume of sermons, and the imposition was not detected. 
The good Lady Berkeley listened attentively, remarking on the 
singularity of the subject, but praising the discourse to her 
visitors. It ran in this wise : 

“ This single stick, which you now behold ingloriously lying 
in that neglected corner, I once knew in a flourishing state in a 
forest : it was full of sap, full of leaves, and. full of boughs ; but 
now, in vain does the busy art of man pretend to vie with nature, 
by tying that withered bundle of twigs to its sapless trunk : it 
is now, at best, but the reverse of what it was, a tree turned 
upside down, the branches on the earth, and the root in the air 
it is now handled by every dirty wench, condemned to do her 
drudgery, and, by a capricious kind of fate, destined to make 
other things clean, and be nasty itself : at length worn to the 
stump in the service of the maids, it is either thrown out of 
doors, or condemned to the last use, of kindling a fire. When 
I beheld this I sighed, and said within myself. Surely man is a 
Broomstick! Nature sent him into the worhl strong and lusty, 
in a thriving condition, wearing his own hair on his head, the 
proper branches of this reasoning vegetable, until the axe of 
intemperance has lopped off his green boughs, and left him a 
withered trunk : he then flies to art, and puts on a periwig, 
valuing himself upon an unnatural abundance of hairs (all 
covered with powder) that never grew on his head ; but now, 
should this our broomstick enter the scene, proud of those 
birchen spoils it never bore, and all covered with dust, though 
the sweepings of the finest lady’s chamber, we should be apt to 
ridicule and despise its vanity. Partial judges that we are of 
our own excellences and other men’s defaults ! 

“ But a broomstick, perhaps you will say, is an emblem of a 
tree standing on its head ; and pray what is man, but a topsy- 
turvy creature, his animal faculties perpetually mounted on his 
rational, his head where his heels should be, grovelling on the 
earth ! and yet, with all his faults, he sets up to be a universal 


XVI 


INTRODUCTION 


reformer and corrector of abuses, a remover of grievances, rakes 
into every corner of nature, bringing hidden corruption to the 
light, and raises a mighty dust where there was none before ; 
sharing deeply all the while in the very same pollutions he pre- 
tends to sweep away; till, worn out to the stumps, like his 
brother besom, he is either kicked out of doors or made use of 
to kindle flames for others to warm themselves by.” 

Swift returned to England in 1701, and soon found himself 
deeply engaged in politics, at first on the side of the Whigs and 
later on that of the Tories. He was the most powerful ami 
trenchant writer of his day, and he did important service, for 
which he expected to be proportionately rewarded. But the 
way to high position was blocked by the enemies he had made 
by his reckless pen, which never stopped at personalities, and 
which had handled religion so freely as to raise doubts as to his 
belief in Christianity. After long years of waiting he had to be 
content with the appointment, in 171 3, to the not very desirable 
Deanery of St. Patrick’s in Dublin. 

The new dean was hardly more welcome in Ireland as a church 
prelate than he would have been in England, but there was a 
change in his favor later. Ireland had received small considera- 
tion at the hands of the English, its manufacturing had been 
ruined, and poverty and misery were almost universal. Moved 
by this suffering, Swift espoused the Irish cause. It was not 
any partiality to Ireland that influenced him to become its 
champion. Neither the country nor its society were congenial 
to his tastes, and it w^as a source of vexation to him that he 
chanced to be Irish born. Indeed, he always took pains to 
explain that his parents were English, and that therefore he 
was no Irishman. But when he , contemplated the unhappy 
condition of tlie land of his birth, his humanity and sense of 
justice were touched, and with courageous ardor he threw him- 
self into the struggle. 

His most notable contribution to the cause was a series’ of 


INTRODUCTION 


XVll 


letters that purported to be written by a Dublin tradesman, and 
which he published over the signature of M. B. Drapier. They 
were partisan appeals, extravagant and one-sided, as was nearly 
everything Swift wrote ; but they were effective, and resulted in 
some much-needed reforms. The letters at once raised the wrath 
of the government, and large rewards were offered for the 
exposure of their author. There could have been no trouble in 
learning that Swift was responsible for them, but, as he says, 
“not a traitor could be found to sell him.” The printer was 
put under arrest, but even he had to be released, for no condem- 
natory action against him could be carried through the Irish 
courts. 

As for Swift, he became thenceforward the idol of the common 
people throughout Ireland. They almost worshipped him. In 
truth, their faith in him was so unbounded that when, on the 
occasion of an eclipse, he took it into his head to cause the 
bellman to go through Dublin’s chief streets and proclaim that 
the eclipse had been postponed by order of the Dean, the crowds 
which had gathered to aw'ait the event promptly dispersed. On 
his return from a visit to England, in 1726, he was welcomed, 
like a prince, with triumphal processions and bonfires. It was 
a rare tiling in the experience of the downtrodden populace to 
find a man in authority who would take an honest interest in 
their welfare, instead of robbing them. 

A strange phase of Swift’s life is that during many years he 
loved, or professed to love, two accomplished ladies. There is 
some reason to think that he finally married one of them pri- 
vately, but he never declared his marriage, and both ladies 
died broken-hearted. 

As old age came on Swift concerned himself less and less in 
public affairs ; death gradually diminished the circle of his near 
friends till they were all gone, and his last years were passed 
in broken health and loneliness. A mental disorder increasingly 
afflicted him, his memory failed, and at length he sank into a 


XVlll 


INTRODUCTION 


state of letliardc stupidity, motionless, heedless, and speechless. 
He died in 1745. 

In personal appearance Swift was tall, robust, and well formed, 
with blue, expressive eyes, dark, heavy eyebrows, and a nose 
inclined to be aquiline. He was considered handsome in youth, 
and in his mature years his figure is described as noble and 
imposing. He was a fluent speaker, ever ready at reply and 
retort, and his tongue was dreaded no less than his pen by 
intimates who incurred his displeasure. Yet his conversation 
was full of charm, and the originality of his humor, his keenness 
of observation, and the fund of anecdotes at his command made 
him a companion whose society was everywhere sought. He 
delighted in puns and quick-witted repartee, and even in practical 
jokes. 

One of the most famous of his jokes was perpetrated on a man 
named Partridge, who professed to be an astrologer and who 
every year issued a prophetic almanac. It presently occurred 
to Swift to take the nom de plume of Isaac Bickerstaff, and put 
forth some predictions of his own. The chief point in them 
was that he prophesied the death of Partridge at a certain liour 
on a certain day. In due time a letter appeared purporting to 
be written by some one who saAV Partridge die. Naturally 
Partridge was indignant. In his next year’s almanac he 
denounced the impostor Bickerstaff ; but this only resulted in 
the latter’s maintaining that his prophecy had been verified by 
the event, and that the real impostor was this person going 
about claiming to be Partridge. The hoax at the time greatly 
amused every one but its victim, who took the matter in serious 
earnest. Swift seems to have had no motive for the part he 
played save to divert himself. 

Another incident which shows the play of Swift’s humor has 
to do with an occasion when in travelling he stopped to give his 
horse water at a brook which crossed the road. A stranger 
who had paused for the same purpose saluted the Dean, and he 


INTRODUCTION 


XIX 


returned the courtesy. They parted, but the gentleman, struck 
by the Dean’s figure, sent his servant back to inquire who the 
Dean was. The messenger rode up to Swdft and said, “ Please, 
sir, master would be obliged if you would tell him who you are.” 

“ Willingly,” replied the Dean ; “ tell your master I am the 
person who bowed to him when we were giving our horses water 
at the brook yonder.” 

After the publication of the Drapier Letters Swift became 
so popular that he was always followed by a crowd whenever he 
appeared in the streets of Dublin. He used to say that the 
Irish ought to subscribe and purchase him a stock of hats, for 
his own was worn out by the number of salutes he had to return. 

Many ancedotes are related of his interchange of slang with 
the glib-tongued shoeblacks and beggars of the city, but these 
are of doubtful authenticity ; for, like all celebrated jesters, it 
was Swift’s fate to be accounted the author of every joke, good 
and bad, perpetrated in his day. 

Swift was famous for lus epigrams. Here is one referring to 
the fact that he bequeathed his property to found a hospital for 
idiots and lunatics : 

“ He gave the little wealth he had 
To build a house for fools and mad ; 

To show by one satiric touch, 

No nation wanted it so much.” 

Another epigram, in which Swift reflected on the mental 
capacity of a sergeant at law named Bettesworth, came near 
having disastrous results for its author. Its subject was so 
enraged that he threatened the Dean with violence. But this 
only reacted to his own hurt, for the inhabitants of St. Patrick’s 
district formed an association to defend their beloved Dean, and 
the unfortunate lawyer could hardly venture on the streets with 
safety. 

An epigram was Swift’s last composition. It was written in 


XX 


INTRODUCTION 


one of the lucid moments near the end of his final dark years. 
He had been taken out by his physician for a drive, and had 
inquired the purpose of a recently erected building that he had 
not seen before. “ That,” replied the physician, “ is the 
magazine of arms and powder for the security of the city.” 

“ Oh, ho ! ” said the Dean, and he pulled out his pocket-book 
and wrote these lines : 

“ Behold a proof of Irish sense ! 

Here Irish wit is seen ! 

When nothing’s left that’s worth defence. 

We build a magazine.” 

In his writings Swift’s primary aim was neither profit nor the 
production of literature. Some personal, ecclesiastical, or politi- 
cal motive was the germ of nearly all of them. He was unsparing 
in his sarcasm and ridicule, and the caustic fiow never ceased as 
long as he was able to write. He put no trust in human nature, 
and mankind’s falsity and pettiness were themes he constantly 
dwelt on. His regard for himself was no higher than that he 
entertained for the rest of the world. He had no joy in living, 
and he had the strange habit of observing the anniversary of his 
birth as a day of fasting and sadness. 

He has been thought by many to have been wholly bitter, 
selfish, and unfeeling, but he had another side. He was devoted 
to his mother as long as she lived, his friends were indebted to 
him for many kindnesses, and he was known on occasion to do 
a good turn for an enemy. His private benevolences in Dublin 
in his later years were immense. One of his servants, whom he 
had long kept in spite of very marked inefficiency, he summarily 
dismissed and never forgave because he insolently refused to 
attend to the request of a needy old woman. 

Swift’s style as a writer was masterly in its simplicity and 
vigor. He often expressed himself coarsely, but never with 
affectation, and what he says has an ease and a directness that 
have rarely been equalled. The work by which he is best known 


INTRODUCTION 


XXI 


is of course his Gulliver^s Travels. A few years before this 
masterpiece was published Robinson Crusoe had appeared, 
and the influence of De Foe’s great romance can be plainly 
traced. The fictitious narrators are in each case plain seafaring 
men who have been wrecked and cast away in distant and 
little-known parts of the world, and their stories are told in the 
same homely manner, and gain an air of fact by the recital of' 
many minute and trifling circumstances. But in the case of 
Gulliver’s Travels the book has a hidden meaning. Most 
of it is a satire on the politicians of the day and their methods, 
but the final portion derides mankind in general. 

Its publication, in 1727, was hailed with mingled merriment 
and amazement, and Gulliver’s story had on its surface such an 
appearance of veracity that in some quarters it was more than 
half believed. Swift concealed his own authorship, and prefaced 
the volume with the letter of one Richard Sympson, who vouches 
for the reality of Mr. Gulliver, and declares that he is highly 
esteemed at his home near Newark in Nottinghamshire, and 
that his veracity was such that it had become “ a sort of proverb 
among his neighbors, when any one affirmed a thing, to say, ‘ It 
is as true as if Mr. Gulliver had spoken it.’ ” 

All this sounded so ingenuous and plausible that some people 
journeyed up to Nottinghamshire to see Mr. Gulliver. They 
were vastly disappointed to find neither him nor any Mr. 
Sympson, and at length the book was accepted for what it is — 
one of the most entertaining fictions ever written. 

NOTE 

In condensing Gulliver''s Travels for school use, omissions 
have been made of all matter that was objectionable because of 
coarseness, and also of portions of trifling interest that interrupted 
the flow of the story. Certain verbal errors have been corrected 
and occasional obsolete words modernized ; but the text is essen- 
tially Swift’s own, and is in no wise rewritten. 


I 








I 




•% 

•f 

o * 

J 

• ► ’ 


PART I 

A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT 












A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT' 


CHAPTER I 

The Author gives some Account of Himself and Family — His First 
Inducements to Travel — He is Shipwrecked, and Swims for 
his Life — Gets safe on Shore in the Country of Lilliput — Is 
made a Prisoner. 

My father had a small estate in Nottinghamshire. I was 
the third of five sons. He sent me to Emanuel College in 
Cambridge, at fourteen years old, where I resided three years, 
and, applied myself closely to my studies ; but the charge of 
maintaining me, being too great for a narrow fortune, I was 
bound apprentice to Mr. James Bates, an eminent surgeon in 
London, with whom I continued four years. My father now 
and then sent me small sums of money, which I laid out in 
learning navigation, and other things useful to those who intend 
to travel, as I always believed it would be, some time or other, 
my fortune to do. When I left Mr. Bates I went to my father, 
and, by the assistance of him and my uncle John, and some 
other relations, I got forty pounds, and a promise of thirty 
pounds a-year, to maintain me at Leyden.® There I studied 
physic two years and seven months, knowing it would be useful 
in long voyages. 


n 


1 


2 


GULLIVER'S TRAVELS 


Soon after my return from Leyden, I was recommended by 
my good master, Mr. Bates, to be surgeon to the Swallow, Cap- 
tain Abraham Pannell, commander; with whom I continued 
three years and a half, making a voyage or two into the Levant,® 
and some other parts. When I came back I resolved to settle 
in London; to which Mr. Bates, my master, encouraged me; 
and by him I was recommended to several patients. I took 
part of a small house, and married Miss Mary Burton, second 
daughter to Mr. Edmund Burton, hosier. 

But my good master Bates dying in two years after, and I 
having few friends, my business began to fail. So I consulted 
with my wife and some of my acquaintances, and determined 
to go again to sea. I was surgeon successively in two ships, 
and made several voyages, for six years, to the East and West 
Indies, by which I got some addition to my fortune. My 
hours of leisure I spent in reading the best authors, ancient 
and modern, being always provided with a good number of 
books ; and when I was ashore, I observed the manners and 
dispositions of the people, as well as learned their languages ; 
wherein I had a great facility. 

The last of these voyages not proving very fortunate, I grew 
weary of the sea, and intended to stay at home with my wife 
and family. I hoped to get business among the sailors ; but it 
did not pay. After three years’ expectation that things would 
mend, I accepted an advantageous offer from Captain William 
Prichard, master of the Antelope, who was making a voyage to 
the South Seas.® We set sail from Bristol, May 4, 1699, and 
our voyage at first was very prosperous. 

I will not trouble the reader with the particulars of our 
adventures in those seas. Let it suffice to inform him, that, in 
our passage thence to the East Indies, we were driven by a vio- 
lent storm to the northwest of Van Diemen’s Land.® By an 
observation we found ourselves in the latitude of 30 degrees 
2 minutes south. Twelve of our crew were dead by immoderate 


A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT 


3 


labor and poor food, and the rest were in a very weak condition. 
On the 5th of November, which was the beginning of summer 
in those parts, the weather being very hazy, the seamen spied a 
rock within half a cable’s length of the ship ; but the wind was 
so strong that we were driven directly upon it, and immediately 
split. Six of the crew, of whom I was one, having let down 
a boat into the sea, made a shift to get clear of tlie ship and 
the rock. W e rowed, by my computation, about three leagues, 
till we w^ere able to work no longer. We, therefore, trusted 
ourselves to the mercy of the waves ; and in about half an hour 
the boat was overset by a sudden flurry. 

What became of my companions in the boat, as well as of 
those who were left in the vessel, I cannot tell, but conclude 
they were all lost. For my own part, I swam as Fortune 
directed me, and was pushed forward by wind and tide. I 
often let my legs drop, and could feel no bottom ; but when I 
was almost gone I found myself within my depth : and by this 
time the storm was much abated. The declivity was so small, 
that I walked near a mile before I got to the shore, which I 
reached as I conjectured at about eight o’clock in the evening. 
I then advanced forward nearly half a mile, but could not 
discover any sign of houses or inhabitants. I was extremely 
tired ; and with that, and the heat of the weather, I found 
myself much inclined to sleep. I lay down on the grass, which 
was very short and soft, where I slept sounder than ever I 
remember to have done in my life, and, as I reckoned, above nine 
hours ; for when I awaked it was just daylight. 

I attempted to rise, but was not able to stir. I happened 
to lie on my back, and I found my arms and legs w^ere strongly 
fastened on each side to the ground, and my hair, which was 
long and thick, tied down in the same manner. I likewise felt 
several slender ligatures across my body. I could only look 
upward. The sun began to grow hot, and the light offended 
my eyes. I heard a confused noise about me, but, in the 


4 


GULLIVER'S TRAVELS 


posture I lay, could see nothing except the sky. In a little 
time I felt something alive moving on my left leg, which, ad- 
vancing gently forward over my breast, came almost up to my 
chin. Bending my eyes downward as much as I could, I 
perceived it to be a human creature not six inches high, with a 
bow and arrow in his hands, and a quiver at his. back. 

In the meantime, I felt at least forty more of the same kind 
(as I conjectured) following the first. I was in the utmost 
astonishment, and roared so loud that they all ran back in a 
fright ; and some of them, as I was afterward told, were hurt 
with the falls they got by leaping from my sides to the 
ground. However, they soon returned ; and one of them, who 
ventured so far as to get a full sight of my face, lifting up his 
hands and eyes by way of admiration, cried out, in a shrill but 
distinct voice, Hekinah degul." 

The others repeated the same words several times. I lay 
all this while, as the reader may believe, in great uneasiness. At 
length, struggling to get loose, I had the fortune to break the 
strings and wrench out the pegs that fastened my left arm to 
the ground. By lifting it up to my face, I discovered the 
methods they had taken to bind me ; and, at the same time, 
with a violent pull, which gave me excessive pain, I a little 
loosened the strings that tied down my hair on the left side, 
so that I was just able to turn my head about two inches. 
But the creatures ran off a second time, before I could seize 
them. Then there was a great shout, in a very shrill accent, 
and, after it ceased, I heard one of them cry aloud, '‘^Tolgo 
phonac." 

In an instant, I felt above a hundred aiTows discharged on 
my left hand, which pricked me like so many needles ; and, 
besides, they shot another flight into the air, whereof many, I 
suppose, fell on my body (though I felt them not) and some 
on my face, which I immediately covered with my left hand. 
When this shower of arrows was over, I fell a-groaning with 


A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT 


5 


grief and pain ; and then, striving again to get loose, they 
discharged another volley, larger than the first, and some of 
them attempted, with spears, to stick me in the sides ; but, by 
good luck, I had on me a leather jerkin,® which they could not 
pierce. 

I thought it the most prudent method to lie still ; and my 
design was to continue so till night, when, my left hand being 
already loose, I could easily free myself. ' As for the inhabit- 
ants, I had reason to believe I might be a match for the great- 
est armies they could bring against me, if they were all of the 
same size with him that I saw. But fortune disposed other- 
wise of me. When the people observed I was quiet, they dis- 
charged no more arrows ; but, by the noise I heard, I knew 
their numbers increased : and about four yards from me, over 
against my right ear, I heard a knocking for above an hour, 
like that of people at work. Turning my head that way, 
as well as the pegs and strings would permit me, I saw a stage 
erected about a foot and a half from the ground, with two 
or three ladders to mount it. The stage was capable of holding 
four of the inhabitants, and thence one of them, who seemed to 
be a person of quality, made me a long speech, whereof I 
understood not one syllable. But I should have mentioned, 
that, before the principal person began his oration, he cried out 
three times, Langro dehul san^\- whereupon, about fifty of 
the inhabitants came and cut the strings that fastened the 
left side of my head, which gave me the liberty of turning 
it to the right, and of observing the person and gestures of 
him that was to speak. He acted every part of an orator; 
and I could observe many periods of threatenings, and others of 
promises, pity, and kindness. 

I answered in a few words, but in the most submissive man- 
ner, lifting up my left hand and both mine eyes to the sun, as 
calling it for a witness : and being almost famished with hun- 
ger, having not eaten a morsel for some hours before I left the 


6 


G UL LI VER'S TRA VELS 


ship, I found the demands of nature so strong upon me that I 
could not forbear showing my impatience by putting my finger 
frequently on my mouth, to signify that I wanted food. 

The hurgo (for so they call a great lord, as I afterward 
learned) understood me very well. He descended from the 
stage, and commanded that several ladders should be applied 
to my sides, on which fully a hundred of the inhabitants 
mounted, and walked toward my mouth, laden with baskets 
full of meat and bread, which had been provided and sent 
thither by the king’s orders, upon the first intelligence he 
received of me. I observed there was the flesh of several 
animals, but could not distinguish them by the taste. There 
were shoulders, legs and loins, shaped like those o£ mutton, 
and very well dressed, but smaller than the wings of a lark. 
I ate them by two or three at a mouthful, and took three 
loaves at* a time, about the bigness of musket-bullets. They 
supplied me as fast as they could, showing a thousand marks 
of wonder and astonishment at my bulk and appetite. 

I then made sign, that I wanted drink. They found by my 
eating that a small quantity would not suffice me ; and, being 
a most ingenious people, they slung up, with great dexterity, 
on-e of their largest hogsheads, then rolled it toward my hand, 
and beat out the top. I drank it off at a draught, which I 
might well do, for it did not hold half a pint, and tasted like 
wine. They brought me a second hogshead, which I drank in 
the same manner, and made signs for more ; but they had none 
to give me. When I had performed these wonders, they 
shouted for joy, and danced upon my breast, repeating several 
times, as they did at first, II ekinah degul'' 

They made me a sign that I should throw down the two 
hogsheads, but first warning the people below to stand out of 
the way, crying aloud, Borach mivolah^\’ and when they saw 
the vessels in the air there was an universal shout of “ Ileki- 
nah deguiy 


A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT 


^"7 


I confess I was often tempted, while they were passing 
backward and forward on my body, to seize forty or fifty of the 
first that came in my reach, and dash them against the ground. 
But the remembrance of what I had felt, which probably 
might not be the worst they could do, and the promise of 
honor I made them — for so I interpreted my submissive be- 
havior — soon drove out these imaginations. Besides, I now 
considered myself as bound by the laws of hospitality to a peo- 
ple who had treated me with so much expense and magnificence. 
However, in my thoughts I could not sufficiently wonder at 
the intrepidity of these diminutive mortals, who durst venture 
to mount and walk on my body, while one of my hands was 
at liberty, without trembling at the very sight of so prodigious 
a creature as I must appear to them. 

After some time, when they observed that I made no more de- 
mands for meat, there appeared before me a person of high rank 
from his imperial majesty. His excellency, having mounted on 
the small of my right leg, advanced forward up to my face, 
with about a dozen of his retinue ; and producing his creden- 
tials, which he applied close to my eyes, spoke about ten 
minutes ; often pointing forward : which, as I afterward found, 
was toward the capital city, about half a mile distant, whither 
it was agreed that I must be conveyed. 

I answered in few words, but to no purpose, and made a 
sign with my hand that was loose, putting it to the other, and 
then to my head and body, to signify that I desired my liberty. 
It appeared that he understood me well enough, for he shook 
his head by way of disapprobation. Howeve«^ he made signs, 
to let me understand that I should have meat and drink 
enough, and very good treatmen't. Whereupon, I once more 
thought of attempting to break my bonds ; but, when I felt 
the smart of their arrows upon my face and hands, which were 
all in blisters, and many of the darts still sticking in them, and 
observing likewise that the number of my enemies increased, I 


8 


GULLIVER'S TRAVELS 


gave tokens to let them know that they might do with me 
what they pleased. 

Upon this, the hurgo and his train withdrew, with much 
civility and cheerful countenances. Soon after, I heard a gen- 
eral shout, with frequent repetitions of the words Peplom 
selan ”/ and I felt great numbers of the people on my left side, 
relaxing the cords to such a degree that I was able to turn on 
my right side and ease myself. But before this they had 
daubed my face and both my hands with a sort of ointment, 
very pleasant to the smell, which, in a few minutes, removed 
all the smart of their arrows. These circumstances, added to 
the refreshment I had received by their victuals and drink, 
which were very nourishing, disposed me to sleep. I slept 
about eight hours, as I was afterward assured ; and it was no 
wonder, for the physicians, by the emperor’s order had mingled 
a sleepy potion in the hogsheads of wine. 

It seems that the first moment I was discovered sleeping on 
the ground, after my landing, the emperor had early notice of 
the fact and determined in council that I should be tied in the 
manner I have related (which was done in the night, while I 
slept) and that plenty of meat and drink should be sent to 
me, and a vehicle prepared to carry me to the capital city. 

This resolution, perhaps, may appear very bold and danger- 
ous. However, in my opinion, it was extremely prudent, as 
well as generous ; for supposing these people had endeavored to 
kill me with their spears and arrows while I was asleep, 
I should certainly have awaked with the first sense of smart, 
which might so far have roused my rage and strength as to 
have enabled me to break the strings wherewith I was tied ; after 
which, they could expect no mercy. • 

These people are most excellent mathematicians, and arrived 
to a great perfection in mechanics by the encouragement of the 
emperor, who is a renowned patron of learning. This prince 
had several frameworks fixed on wheels, for the carriage of trees 


A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT 


9 


and other great weights. He often builds his largest men-of- 
war, whereof some are nine feet long, in the woods where the 
timber grows, and has them carried on these trucks, three or 
four hundred yards, to the sea. Five hundred carpenters and 
engineers were immediately set at work to prepare the greatest 
vehicle they had. It was a frame of wood raised three inches 
from the ground, about seven feet long, and four wide, moving 
,011 twenty-two wheels. This contrivance, it seems, set out in 
four hours after my landing. It was brought parallel to me 
as I lay. But the principal difficulty was to raise and place 
me on it. Eighty poles, each one foot high, were erected for 
this purpose, and very strong cords, of the bigness of pack- 
thread, were fastened by hooks to many bandages, which the 
workmen had girt round my neck, my hands, my body, and my 
legs. Nine hundred of the strongest men were employed to 
draw up these cords by many pulleys fastened on the poles ; 
and thus, in less than three hours, I was raised and slung onto 
the vehicle, and there tied fast. All this I was told; for, 
while the wdiole operation was performing, I lay in a profound 
sleep, by the force of that medicine in my liquor. Fifteen hun- 
dred of the emperor’s largest horses, each about four inches 
and a half high, were employed to draw me toward the metrop- 
olis, which, as I said, was half a mile distant. 

About four hours after we began our journey, I awaked by 
a very ridiculous accident ; for the carriage being stopped awhile 
to adjust something that was out of order, two or three of the 
young natives had the curiosity to see how I looked when I was 
asleep. They climbed up onto the wagon, and advancing very 
softly to my face, one of them, an officer in the guards, put the 
sharp end of his half-pike a good way up into my left nostril, 
which tickled my nose like a straw, and made me sneeze vio- 
lently; whereupon they stole off unperceived. We made a 
long march the remaining part of that day, and rested at night 
with five hundred guards on each side of me, half with torches, 


10 


GULLIVER’S TRAVELS 


and half with bows and arrows, ready to shoot me if I should 
offer to stir. The next morning at sunrise we continued our 
march, and arrived within two hundred yards of the city gates 
about noon. The emperor, and all his court, came out to 
meet us. 

At the place where the carriage stopped there stood an 
ancient temple, esteemed to be the largest in the whole king- 
dom ; which, having been polluted some years before by a mur- 
der, had been applied to common use, and all the ornaments 
and furniture carried away. In this edifice it was determined 
I should lodge. The great gate fronting to the north was about 
four feet high, and almost two feet wide, through which I could 
easily creep. On each side of the gate was a small window, 
not above six inches from the ground. Into that on the left 
side the king’s smiths conveyed fourscore and eleven chains, 
like those that hang to a lady’s watch in Europe, and almost as 
large, which were locked to my left leg with thirty-six padlocks. 

Over against this temple, on the other side of the great high- 
way, at twenty feet distance, there was a turret at least five 
feet high. Here the emperor ascended, with many principal 
lords of his court, to have an opportunity of viewing me. It 
was reckoned that more than a hundred thousand inhabitants 
came out of the town on the same errand ; and, I believe there 
could not be fewer than ten thousand at several times, who 
mounted upon my body by the help of ladders. 

When the workmen found it was impossible for me to break 
loose they cut all the strings that bound me ; and I got up, 
with as melancholy a disposition as ever I had in my life. But 
the noise and astonishment of the people, at seeing me rise and 
walk, are not to be expressed. The chains that held my left 
leg were about two yards long, and gave me not only the lib- 
erty of walking backward and forward in a semicircle, but, 
being fixed within four inches of the gate, allowed me to creep 
in and lie at my full length in the temple. 


CHAPTER II 


The Emperor of Lilliput, attended by several of the Nobility, 
comes to see the Author in his Confinement — The Emperor’s 
Person and Habit described — Learned Men appointed to teach 
the Author their Language — He gains Favor by his mild Dis- 
position — His Pockets are searched, and his Sword and Pistols 
taken from him. 

When I found myself on my feet I looked about me, and 
must confess I never beheld a more entertaining prospect. The 
country round appeared like a continued garden, and the en- 
closed fields, which were generally forty feet square, resembled 
so many beds of flowers. These fields were intermingled with 
woods, and the tallest trees appeared to be seven feet high. 

The emperor descended from the tower, and advanced on 
horseback toward me, which had like to have cost him dear, 
for his horse, though very well trained^ was wholly unused to 
such a sight, which appeared as if a mountain moved before 
him, and he reared up on his hinder feet ; but the emperor, who 
is an excellent horseman, kept his seat till his attendants ran 
and held the bridle while his majesty had time to dismount. 
When he alighted he surveyed me round with great astonish- 
ment, but kept beyond the length of my chain. He ordered 
liis cooks and butlers, who were already prepared, to give me 
victuals and drink, which they pushed forward in some vehicles 
upon wheels till I could reach them. I took these vehicles, 
and soon emptied them all. Twenty of them were filled with 
meat, and ten with liquor, which was contained in earthen 
vials. 


11 


12 


GULLIVER'S TRAVELS 


The empress and young princes, attended by many ladies, sat 
at some distance in their chairs,® but upon the accident that 
happened to the emperor’s horse they alighted and came near 
his person, which I am now going to describe. He is taller, by 
almost the breadth of my thumb nail, than any of his court, 
which alone is enough to strike awe into the beholders. His 
features are strong and masculine, his complexion olive, his body 
and limbs well proportioned, all his motions graceful, and his 
deportment majestic. He was then in his prime, being twenty- 
eight years and three-quarters old,® of which he had reigned 
about seven in great felicity, and generally victorious. For 
the better convenience of beholding him I lay on my side, so 
that my face was parallel to his, and he stood but three yards 
otF. However, I have had him since many times in my hand, 
and therefore cannot be deceived in the description. His dress 
was very plain and simple, and the fashion of it between the 
Asiatic and the European ; but he had on his head a light hel- 
met of gold, adorned with jewels, and a plume on the crest. 
He held his sword drawn in his hand to defend himself if I 
should happen to break loose. It was almost three inches long. 
The hilt and scabbard were gold enriched with diamonds. His 
voice was shrill, but very clear and articulate, and I could dis- 
tinctly hear it when I stood up. His imperial majesty spoke 
often to me, and I returned answers, but neither of us could 
understand. There were several of his priests and lawyers 
present (as I conjectured by their apparel), who were commanded 
to address themselves to me, and I spoke to them in as many 
languages as I had the least smattering of, which were German, 
Dutch, Latin, French, Spanish, and Italian, but all to no purpose. 

After about two hours the court retired, and I was left with 
a strong guard to prevent the impertinence and probably the 
malice of the rabble, who were very impatient to crowd about 
me as near as they durst, and some of them had the impudence 
to shoot their arrows at me as I sat on the ground by the door 


A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT 


13 


of my house. But the colonel ordered six of the ringleaders to 
be seized, and thought no punishment so proper as to deliver them 
bound into my hands, which some of his soldiers accordingly did, 
pushing tliem forward with the butt-ends of their pikes® into my 
reach. I took them all in my right hand, put five of them into 
my coat pocket, and as to the sixth, I made a countenance as 
if I w^ould eat him alive. The poor man squalled terribly, and 
the colonel and his ofticers were in much pain, especially when 
they saw me take out my penknife, but I soon put them out of 
fear, for cutting the strings he was bound with, I set him gently 
on the ground, and away he ran. I treated the rest in the 
same manner, taking them one by one out of my pocket, and I 
observed both the soldiers and people were highly delighted at 
this mark of my clemency, which was represented very much 
to my advantage at court. 

Toward night I got with some difficulty into my house, 
where I lay on the floor, and continued to do so about a fort- 
night, during which time the emperor gave orders to have a 
bed prepared for me. Six hundred beds of the common meas- 
ure were brought in carriages, and worked up in my house ; a 
hundred and fifty of their beds sewn together made up the 
breadth and length, and these were four double, which, how- 
ever, kept me but very indifferently from the hardness of the 
floor, that was of smooth stone. By the same computation 
they provided me with sheets, blankets, and coverlets, tolerable 
enough for one who had been so long inured to hardships afe I. 

f As the news of my arrival spread through the kingdom, it 
brought prodrgious numbers of rich, idle, and curious people to 
see me ; so that the villages were almost emptied ; and great 
neglect of tillage and household affairs must have ensued, if his 
imperial majesty had not provided, by several proclamations 
and orders of state, against this inconveniency. He directed 
that those who had already beheld me should retnrii home, and 
not presume to come within fifty yards of my house without 


14 


GULLIVER'S TRAVELS 


license from court ; whereby the secretaries of state got consid- 
erable fees. 

In the meantime the emperor held frequent councils, to de- 
bate what course should be taken with me ; and I was after- 
ward assured by a particular friend, a person of great quality, 
that the court was under many difficulties concerning me. 
They apprehended my breaking loose ; that my diet would be 
very expensive, and might cause a famine. Sometimes they 
determined to starve me, or at least to shoot me in the face and 
hands with poisoned arrows, which would soon despatch me ; 
but again they considered that the stench of so large a carcass 
might produce a plague in the metropolis, and probably spread 
through the whole kingdom. In the midst of these consulta- 
tions, several officers of the army went to the door of the great 
council-chamber, and two of them being admitted, gave an 
account of my behavior to the six criminals above mentioned, 
which made so favorable an impression in the breast of his 
majesty and the whole board in my behalf, that an imperial 
commission was issued obliging all the villages nine hundred 
yards round the city to deliver every morning six beeves, forty 
sheep, and other victuals for my sustenance ; together with a 
proportionable quantity of bread ; for the due payment of which 
his majesty gave drafts upon his treasury. 

An establishment was also made of six hundred persons to 
be my domestics, who had tents built for them, very con- 
veniently on each side of my door. It was likewise ordered 
that tliree hundred tailors should make me a suit of clothes, 
after the fashion of the country ; that six of his majesty’s 
greatest scholars should be employed to instruct me in their 
language; and, lastly, that the emperor’s horses and those of 
the nobility, and troops of guard, should be frequently exercised 
in my sight, to accustom themselves to me. 

All these oi’ders were duly put in execution; and in about 
three weeks I made a great progress in learning tlieir language ; 


A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT 


15 


during which time the emperor frequently honored me with his 
visits, and was pleased to assist my masters in teaching me. 
We began already to converse, and the first words I learned 
were to express my desire that he would please to give me my 
liberty ; which I every day repeated on my knees. His answer, 
as I could apprehend it, was, that this must be a work of time, 
not to be thought on without the advice of his council, and that 
first I must lumos Icelmin pesso desmar Ion empow'‘^ ; that is, 
swmar a peace with him and his kingdom. However, he said 
I should be used with all kindness ; and he advised me to ac- 
quire, by my patience and discreet behavior, the good opinion 
of himself and his subjects. He desired I would not take it ill, 
if he gave orders to search me; for probably I might carry 
about me several weapons, which must needs be dangerous 
things, if they answered the bulk of so prodigious a person. 
By the laws of the kingdom, I must be searched by two of his 
officers. He knew this could not be done without my consent 
and assistance ; that he had so good an opinion of my generos- 
ity and justice as to trust their persons in my hands. What- 
ever they took from me should be returned when I left the 
country, or paid for at the rate which I wmuld set upon them. 

I took up the two officers in my hands, put them first into 
my coat pockets, and then into every other pocket about me, 
except my twm fobs,° and another secret pocket I had no mind 
should be searched, wherein I had some little necessaries that 
were of no consequence to any but myself In one of my fobs 
there was a silver watch, and in the other a small quantity of 
gold in a purse. These gentlemen, having pen, ink, and paper 
about them, made an exact inventory of everything they saw ; 
and when they had done desired I would set them down, that 
they might deliver it to the emperor. This inventory I after- 
ward translated into English, and is word for word as follows : 

“ In the right coat-pocket of the great man-mountain, after 
the strictest search, we found only one great piece of coarse 


16 


GULLlVEli’S TRAVELS 


cloth, large enough to be a footcloth for your majesty’s chief 
room of state. In the left pocket we saw a huge silver chest, 
with a cover of the same metal, which we, the searchers, were 
not able to lift. We desired it should be opened, and one of 
us, stepping into it, found himself up to the mid-leg in a sort 
of dust, some part whereof, flying up to our faces, set us both 
a-sneezing for several times together. 

“ In his right waistcoat pocket we found a prodigious bundle 
of white, thin substances, folded one over another, about the 
bigness of three men, tied with a strong cable, and marked with 
black figures, which we humbly conceive to be writings, every 
letter almost half as large as the palm of our hands. In the 
left there was a sort of engine, from the back of which were 
extended twenty long poles, resembling the palisadoes before 
your majesty’s court ; wherewith we conjecture the man-moun- 
tain combs his head ; for we did not always trouble him with 
questions, because we found it a great difficulty to make him 
understand us. 

“ In the large pocket, on the right side of his middle cover 
(by which they meant my breeches) we saw a hollow pillar of 
iron, about the length of a man, fastened to a strong piece of 
timber larger than the pillar ; and upon one side of the pillar 
were huge pieces of iron sticking out, cut into strange figures, 
which we know not what to make of. In the left pocket, an- 
other engine of the same kind. In the smaller pocket, on the 
right side, were several round, flat pieces of white and red 
metal, of different bulk. Some of the white, which seemed to 
be silver, were so large and heavy that my comrade and I could 
hardly lift them. In the left pocket were two black pillars 
irregularly shaped. We could with difficulty reach the top of 
them, as we stood at the bottom of his pocket. Within each of 
these was enclosed a prodigious plate of steel; which, by our 
orders, we obliged him to show us, because we apprehended they 
might be dangerous engines. He took them out of their cases. 


A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT 


IT 


and told us that, in his own country, his practice was to shave his 
beard with one of these, and to cut his meat with the other. 

“ There were two pockets which we could not enter. These 
he called his fobs. They were two large slits cut into the top of 
his middle cover, but squeezed close by the pressure of his body. 
Out of the right fob hung a great silver chain, with a wonder- 
ful kind of engine at the bottom. We directed him to draw 
out whatever was at the end of that chain, which appeared to 
be a globe, half silver, and half of some transparent metal ; for, 
on the transparent side, we saw certain strange figures circu- 
larly drawn, and thought we could touch them, till we found 
our fingers stopped by that lucid substance. He put this engine 
to our ears, which made an incessant noise like that of a water- 
mill : and we conjecture it is either some unknown animal, or the 
god that he worships ; but we are more inclined to the latter 
opinion, because he assured us (if we understood him right, for 
he expressed himself very imperfectly) that he seldom did any- 
thing without consulting it. He called it his oracle, and said it 
pointed out the time for every action of his life. From the left 
fob he took out a net, almost large enough for a fisherman, but 
contrived to open and shut like a purse, and served him for the 
same use. We found therein several massy pieces of yellow 
metal, which, if they be real gold, must be of immense value. 

“Having thus, in obedience to your majesty’s commands, 
diligently searched all his pockets, we observ^ a girdle about 
his waist, made of the hide of some prodigious animal, from 
which, on the left side, hung a sword of the length of five men ; 
and on the right, a bag or pouch divided into two cells, each 
cell capable of holding three of your majesty’s subjects. In 
one of these cells were several balls, of a most ponderous metal, 
about the bigness of our heads, and requiring a strong hand to 
I lift them. The other cell contained a heap of certain black 
I grains, but of no great bulk or weight, for we could hold above 
I fifty of them in the palms of our hands. 

I c 


18 


GULLIVER'* S TRAVELS 


“ This is an exact inventory of what we found about the body 
of the man-mountain, who used us with great civility, and due 
respect to your majesty’s commission. Signed and sealed on 
the fourth day of the eighty-ninth moon of your majesty’s auspi- 
cious rei^n. Clefren Frelock, Marsi Frelock.” 

When this inventory was read over to the emperor he directed 
me, although in very gentle terms, to deliver up the several par- 
ticulars. He first called for my sword, scabbard and all. In 
the meantime he ordered three thousand of his choicest troops 
to surround me at a distance, with their bows and arrows ready 
to discharge; but I did not observe them, for my eyes were 
wholly fixed upon his majesty. He then desired me to draw my 
sword, which, although it had got some rust by the sea- water, 
was in most parts exceeding bright. I did so, and immediately 
all the troops gave a shout between terror and surprise : for the 
sun shone clear, and the reflection dazzled their eyes, as I waved 
the sword to and fro in my hand. His majesty, who is a most 
magnanimous prince, was less daunted than I could expect : he 
ordered me to return it into the scabbard, and cast it on the 
ground as gently as I could, about six feet from the end of my 
chain. 

The next thing he demanded was one of the hollow iron pil- 
lars : by which he meant my pocket-pistols. I drew it out, and 
at his desire, as well as I could, explained to him the use of it ; 
and charging it only with powder, which, by the closeness of my 
pouch, happened to escape wetting in the sea (an inconvenience 
against which all prudent mariners take special care to provide), 
I first cautioned the emperor not to be afraid, and then I let it 
off in the air. The astonishment here Avas much greater than 
at the sight of my sword. Hundreds fell down as if they had 
been struck dead ; and even the emperor, although he stood his 
ground, could not recover himself in some time. 


A VOYAGE TO LILLIE UT 


19 


I delivered up both my pistols in the same manner as I had 
done my sword, and then my pouch of powder and bullets ; beg- 
ging him that the former might be kept from the fire, for it 
would kindle with the smallest spark, and blow up his imperial 
palace into the air. I likewise delivered up my watch, which 
the emperor was very curious to see, and commanded two of his 
tallest yeomen of the guards to bear it on a pole upon their 
shoulders. He was amazed at the continual noise it made, and 
the motion of the minute-hand, which he could easily discern ; 
for their sight is much more acute than ours. I then gave up 
my silver and copper money, my purse with nine large pieces of 
gold and some smaller ones ; my knife and razor, my comb and 
silver snuft-box, my handkerchief, and journal-book. My sword, 
pistols, and pouch were conveyed in carriages to his majesty’s 
stores ; but the rest of my goods w^ere returned to me. 

I had, as I before observed, one private pocket, which escaped 
their search, wherein there was a pair of spectacles (which I 
sometimes use for the weakness of my eyes) a pocket per- 
spective,® and several other little conveniences ; which, being of 
no consequence to the emperor, I did not think myself bound to 
show, and I apprehended they might be lost or spoiled if I 
ventured them out of my possession. 


CHAPTER III 


The Author diverts the Emperor, and his Nobility of both sexes, in 
a very uncommon manner — The Diversions of the Court of 
Lilliput described — The Author has his Liberty granted to 
him upon certain conditions. 

My gentleness and good behavior had gained so far on the 
emperor and his court, and indeed upon the army and people in 
general, that I began to conceive hopes of getting my liberty in 
a short time. I took all possible methods to cultivate this 
favorable disposition. The natives came, by degrees, to be less 
apprehensive of any danger from me. I Avould sometimes lie 
down, and let five or six of them dance on my hand ; and at 
last the boys and girls would venture to come and play at hide- 
and-seek in my hair. I had now made good progress in under- 
standing and speaking their language. The emperor had a 
mind one day to entertain me with several of the country shows, 
wherein they exceed all nations I have known, both for dexter- 
ity and magnificence. I was diverted with none so much as 
that of the rope-dancers, who performed on a slender white 
thread, extended about two feet from the ground. 

This diversion is only practised by those persons who are 
candidates for great employments and high favor at court. 
They are trained in this art from their youth. When a great 
office is vacant, either by death or dismissal, five or six of those 
candidates petition the emperor to entertain his majesty and 
the court with a dance on the rope ; and whoever jumps the 
highest without falling, succeeds to the office. Very often the 
chief ministers themselves are commanded to show -their skill, 

20 


A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT 


21 


and to convince the emperor that they have not lost their 
faculty. Flinmap, the treasurer, can cut a caper on the straight 
rope, at least an inch higher than any other lord in the whole 
empire. I have seen him do the summerset® several times 
together, upon a trencher fixed on the rope, which is no thicker 
than a common pack-thread in England. My friend Reldresal, 
principal secretary for private affairs, is, in my opinion, the 
second after the treasurer. 

These diversions are often attended with fatal accidents. I 
myself have seen two or three candidates break a limb. But 
the danger is much greater when the ministers themselves are 
commanded to show their dexterity ; for, by contending to excel 
themselves and their fellows, they strain so far that there is 
hardly one of them w^ho hath not received a fall, and some of 
them two or three. I was assured that, a year or two before 
my arrival, Flimnap wmuld have broken his neck if one of the 
king’s cushions, that accidentally lay on the ground, had not 
weakened the force of his fall. 

There is likewise another diversion, which is only shown 
before the emperor and empress, and first minister, upon partic- 
ular occasions. The emperor lays on a table three fine silken 
threads of six inches long. One is blue, the other red, and tlie 
third green. These threads are proposed as prizes for those 
persons whom the emperor hath a mind to distinguish by a 
peculiar mark of his favor. The ceremony is performed in his 
majesty’s great chamber of state, where the candidates are to 
undergo a trial of dexterity, very different from the* former, and 
such as I have not observed the least resemblance of in any 
other country of the old or the new world. The emperor holds 
a stick in his hands, parallel to the horizon, while the candi- 
dates advancing, one by one, sometimes leap over the stick, 
sometimes creep under it, backward and forward, several times, 
according as the stick is advanced or depressed. Sometimes 
the emperor holds one end of the stick, and his first minister 


22 


GULLIVER’S TRAVELS 


the other; sometimes the minister has it entirely to himself. 
Whoever performs his part with most agility, and holds out the 
longest in leaping and creeping, is rewarded with the blue col- 
ored silk ; and red is given to the next, and the green to the 
third, which they all wear girt twice round the middle ; and 
you see few great persons about this court who are not adorned 
with one of these girdles. 

The horses of the army, and those of the royal stables, hav- 
ing been daily led before me, were no longer shy, but would 
come up to my very feet without starting. The riders would 
leap them over my hand, as I held it on the ground ; and one 
of the emperor’s huntsmen, upon a large courser, went over my 
foot, shoe and all, which was indeed a prodigious leap. I had 
the good fortune to divert the emperor one day after a very 
extraordinary manner. I desired he would order several sticks 
two feet long, and the thickness of an ordinary cane, to be 
brought me ; whereupon his majesty commanded the master of 
his woods to give directions accordingly; and the next morning 
six woodmen arrived with as many carriages, drawn by eight 
horses to each. I took nine of these sticks, and fixed them 
firmly in the ground in a quadrangular figure, two feet and a 
half square. I took four other sticks, and tied them parallel 
at each corner, about two feet from the ground. Then I fas- 
tened my handkerchief to the nine sticks that stood erect, and 
extended it on all sides till it was as tight as the top of a 
drum ; and the four parallel sticks, rising about five inches 
higher than’the handkerchief, served as ledges on each side. 

When I had finished my work, I desired the emperor to let a 
troop of his best horsemen, twenty -four in number, come and exer- 
cise upon this plain. His majesty approved of the proposal, and 
I took them up, one by one, in my hands, ready mounted and 
armed, with the proper officers to exercise them. As soon as 
they got into order they divided into two parties, performed mock 
skirmishes, discharged blunt arrows, drew their swords, fled and 


A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT 


23 


pursued, attacked and retired, and, in short, discovered the best 
military discipline I ever beheld. The parallel sticks secured 
them and their horses from falling off the stage ; and the em- 
peror was so much delighted that he ordered this entertainment 
to be repeated several days. Once he was pleased to be lifted 
up and give the word of command ; and with great difficulty 
persuaded even the empress herself to let me hold her in her 
sedan-chair within two yards of the stage, whence she was able 
to take a full view of the whole performance. It was my good 
fortune that no ill accident happened in these entertainments ; 
only once a fiery horse, that belonged to one of the captains, 
pawing with his hoof, struck a hole in my handkerchief, and 
his foot slipping, he overthrew his rider and himself ; but I im- 
mediately relieved them both, and covering the hole with one 
hand, I set down the troop with the other, in the same manner 
as I took them up.' ' The horse that fell was strained in the 
shoulder, but the rider got no hurt > and I repaired my hand- 
kerchief as well as I could. However, I would hot trust to the 
strength of it any more in such dangerous enterprises. 

About two or three days before I was set at liberty, as I was 
entertaining the court with this kind of feats, there arrived a 
messenger to inform his majesty that some of his subjects, rid- 
ing near the place where I was first taken up, had seen a great 
black substance lying on the ground, very oddly shaped, extend- 
ing its edges round as wide as his majesty’s bedchamber, and 
rising up in the middle as high as a man ; that it was no liv- 
ing creature, as they at first apprehended, for it lay on the grass 
without motion, and some of them had walked round it several 
times ; that, by mounting upon each other’s shoulders, they had 
got to the top, which was flat and even, and stamping upon it, 
they found it was hollow within ; that they humbly conceived it 
might be something belonging to the man-mountain; and, if 
his majesty pleased, they would undertake to bring it with 
only five horses. 


24 


GULLIVER^ S TRAVELS 


I presently knew what they meant, and was glad at heart to 
receive this intelligence. It seems, upon my first reaching the 
shore after our shipwreck, before I came to the place where I 
went to sleep, my hat, which had been fastened with a string to 
my head, and had stuck on all the time I was swimming, fell 
off; the string breaking by some accident which I never ob- 
served. I entreated his imperial majesty to give orders it might 
be brought to me as soon as possible, describing to him the use 
and the nature of it ; and the next day the wagoners arrived 
with it, but not in a very good condition. They had bored 
two holes in the brim, within an inch and a half of the edge, 
and fastened two hooks in the holes ; these hooks were tied by 
a long cord to the harness, and thus my hat was dragged along 
for above half an English mile ; but the ground in that country 
being extremely smooth and level, it received less damage than 
I expected. 

Two days after this adyenture, the emperor, having ordered 
that part of his army which quarters in and about his metropo- 
lis to be in readiness, took a fancy of diverting himself in a very • 
singular manner. He desired I would stand with my legs as 
far asunder as I conveniently could. He then commanded his 
general (who was an old experienced leader) to draw up the 
troops in close order and march them under me ; the foot by 
twenty-four abreast, and the horse by sixteen, with drums beat- 
ing, colors flying, and pikes advanced. This body consisted of 
three thousand foot and a thousand horse. 

I had sent so many memorials and petitions for my liberty, 
that his majesty at length mentioned the matter, first in the 
cabinet, and then in a full council; where it was opposed by 
none except Skyresh Bolgolam, who was pleased, without any 
provocation, to be my mortal enemy. But it was carried 
against him by the whole board, and confirmed by the emperor. 
That minister was admiral of the realm, very much in his mas- 
ter’s confidence, and a person well versed in affairs, but of a 


A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT 


25 


morose and sour disposition. However, he was at length per- 
suaded to comply; but prevailed that the articles and condi- 
tions upon which I should be set free, and to which I must 
swear, should be drawn up by himself. These articles were 
brought to me by Skyresh Bolgolam in person, attended by two 
under-secretaries and several persons of distinction. 

After they were read, I was demanded to swear to the per- 
formance of them ; first in the manner of my own country, and 
afterward in the method prescribed by their laws ; which was, 
to hold my right foot in my left hand, to place the middle finger 
of my right hand on the crown of my head, and my thumb on 
the tip of my right ear. The reader may perhaps be curious to 
have some idea of the style and manner of expression peculiar to 
that people, as well as to know the articles upon which I 
recovered my liberty, and I have made a translation of the 
w'hole instrument, word for word, as near as I was able. 

“ Golbasto Momarem Evlame Gurdilo Shefin Mully Ully 
Gue, most mighty Emperor of Lilliput, delight and terror of 
the universe, whose dominions extend five thousand hlustrugs 
(about twelve miles in circumference) to the extremities of the 
globe; monarch of all monarchs, taller than the sons of men; 
whose feet press down to the centre, and whose head strikes 
against the sun, at whose nod the princes of the earth shake 
their knees ; pleasant as the spring, comfortable as the summer, 
fruitful as autumn, dreadful as winter. His most sublime ma- 
jesty proposes to the man-mountain, lately arrived at our celes- 
tial dominions, the following articles, which, by a solemn oath, 
he shall be obliged to perform : 

“1st. The man-mountain shall not depart from our domin- 
ions without our license under our great seal. 

“ 2d. He shall not presume to come into our metropolis 
without our express order ; at which time the inhabitants shall 
have two hours’ warning to keep within their doors. 


26 


GULLIVER'’S TRAVELS 


“ 3d. The said mau-mountaiii shall confine his walks to our 
principal highroads, and not offer to walk, or lie down, in a 
meadow or field of corn. 

“ 4th. As he walks the said roads he shall take the utmost 
care not to trample upon the bodies of any of our loving sub- 
jects, their horses, or carriages, nor take any of our said subjects 
into his hands without their own consent. 

“ 5th. If a message requires extraordinary dispatch, the man- 
mountain shall be obliged to carry in his pocket the messenger 
and horse a six days’ journey, and return the said messenger (if 
so required) safe to our imperial presence. 

“ 6th. He shall be our ally against our enemies in the 
island of Blefuscu, and do his utmost to destroy their fleet, 
which is now preparing to invade us. 

“7th. That the said man -mountain shall, at his times of 
leisure, assist our workmen to raise certain great stones, for the 
wall of the principal park, and our royal buildings. 

“ 8th. That the said man-mountain shall, in two moons’ 
time, deliver an exact survey of the circumference of our domin- 
ions, by a computation of his own paces round the coast. 

“ Lastly. That, upon his solemn oath to observe all the 
above articles, the said man-mountain shall have a daily allow- 
ance of meat and drink sufficient for the support of 1,728 of 
our subjects, with free access to our royal person, and other 
marks of our favor. Given at our palace at Belfaborac, the 
twelfth day of the ninety-first moon of our reign.” 

I swore and subscribed to these articles with great cheerful- 
ness and content, whereupon my chains were immediately 
unlocked, and I was at full liberty. The emperor himself in 
person, did me the honor to be by at the whole ceremony. I 
made my acknowledgments by prostrating myself at his majesty’s 
feet ; but he commanded me to rise ; and after many gracious 
expressions, he added, that he hoped I should prove a useful 


A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT 


27 


servant, and well deserve all the favors he had already conferred 
upon me, or might do for the future. 

The reader may please to observe, that, in the last article for 
the recovery of my liberty, the emperor stipulates to allow me a 
quantity of meat and drink sufficient for the support of 1,728 
Lilliputians. Some time after, asking a friend at court how 
they came to fix on that determinate number, he told me that 
his majesty’s mathematicians, having taken the height of my 
body by the help of a quadrant, and finding it to exceed theirs 
in the proportion of twelve to one, they concluded, from the 
similarity of their bodies, that mine must contain at least 1,728 
of theirs, and consequently would require as much food as was 
necessary to support that number of Lilliputians. By which 
the reader may conceive an idea of the ingenuity of that people, 
as well as the prudent and exact economy of so great a prince. 


CHAPTER IV 


Mildendo, the metropolis of Lilliput, described, together with the 
Emperor’s Palace — A conversation between the Author and 
a Principal Secretary concerning the affairs of that Empire 
— The Author’s offer to serve the Emperor in his wars. 

The first request I made, after I had obtained my liberty, 
was, that I might have license to see Mildendo, the metropolis ; 
which the emperor readily granted me, but with a special charge 
to do no hurt either to the inhabitants or their houses. The 
people had notice, by proclamation, of my design to visit the 
town. The wall, which encompassed the town, is two feet and 
a half high, and at least eleven inches broad, so that a coach and 
horses may be driven very safely on it ; and it is flanked with 
strong towers at ten feet distance. I stepped over the great 
western gate, and passed very gently and sideling through the two 
principal streets, only in my waistcoat, for fear of damaging the 
roofs and eaves of the houses with the skirts of my coat. I 
walked with the utmost circumspection, to avoid treading on 
any stragglers that might remain in the streets ; although the 
orders were very strict that all people should keep in their houses. 
The garret windows and tops of houses were so crowded with 
spectators that I thought in all my travels I had not seen a 
more populous place. The city is an exact square, each side of 
the wall being five hundred feet long. The two great streets, 
which run across and divide it into four quarters, are five feet 
wide. The lanes and alleys, which I could not enter, but only 
viewed them as I passed, are from tw^elve to eighteen inches. 

28 


A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT 


29 


The town is capable of holding five hundred thousand souls : 
the houses are from three to five stories : the shops and markets 
well provided. 

The emperor’s palace is in the centre of the city, where the 
two great streets meet. It is enclosed by a wall two feet high, 
and twenty feet distant from the buildings. I had his majesty’s 
permission to step over this wall ; and then I could easily view 
tlie palace on every side. The outward court is a square of forty 
feet, and includes two other courts. In the inmost are the royal 
apartments, which I was very desirous to see, but the great 
gates from one square into another were only eighteen inches 
high and seven inches wide. Now the buildings of the outer 
court were at least five feet high, and it was impossible for me 
to stride over them without infinite damage to the pile, though 
the walls were strongly built of hewn stone, and four inches 
thick. At the same time, the emperor had a great desire that 
I should see the magnificence of his palace ; but this I was not 
able to do till three days after, which I spent in cutting down 
with my knife some of the largest trees in the royal park, about 
a hundred yards distant from the city. Of these trees I made 
two stools, each about three feet high, and strong enough to 
bear my weight. 

The people, having received notice a second time, I went 
again through the city to the palace with my two stools in my 
hands. When I came to the side of the outer court, I stood 
upon one stool, and took the other in my hand. This I lifted 
over the roof, and gently set it down on the space between the 
first and second court, which was eight feet wide. I then 
stepped over the buildings very conveniently from one stool to 
the other, and drew up the first after me with a hooked stick. 
By this contrivance I got into the inmost court ; and, lying 
down upon my side, I applied my face to the windows of the 
middle stories, which were left open on purpose, and discovered 
the most splendid apartments that can be imagined. There I 


30 


GULLIVER'S TRAVELS 


saw the empress and the young princes, in their several lodgings, 
with their chief attendants about them. Her imperial majesty 
was pleased to smile very graciously upon me, and gave me out 
of the window her hand to kiss. 

One morning, about a fortnight after I had obtained my 
liberty, Reldresal, principal secretary of private aftairs, came to 
my house, attended only by one servant. He ordered his coach 
to wait at a distance, and desired I would give him an hour’s 
audience ; which I readily consented to, on account of the many 
good offices he had done me during my solicitations at court. 
I offered to lie down, that he might the more conveniently reach 
my ear ; but he chose rather to let me hold him in my hand 
during our conversation. He began with compliments on my 
liberty ; but, however, added, that if it had not been for the 
present situation of things at court perhaps I might not have 
obtained it so soon. “For,” said he, “as flourishing a condi- 
tion as we may appear to be in to foreigners, we labor under 
two mighty evils ; a violent faction at home, and the danger of 
an invasion by a most potent enemy from abroad. As to the 
first, you are to understand that for above .seventy moons past 
there have been two struggling parties in this empire, under the 
names Tramecksan and Slameckmn, from the high and low 
lieels of their shoes, by which they distinguish themselves. It 
is alleged, indeed, that the high heels are most agreeable to our 
ancient constitution ; but, however this be, his majesty hath 
determined to make use of only low heels in the administration 
of the government, and all offices in the gift of the crown, as 
you cannot but observe; and particularly that his majesty’s 
imperial heels are lower, at least by a cZrwrr, than any of his 
court {drurr is a measure about the fourteenth part of an inch). 
The animosities between these two parties run so high that they 
will neither eat nor drink, nor talk with each other. We com- 
pute the Tramecksan, or high heels, to exceed us in number ; 
but the power is wholly on our side. We apprehend his impe- 


A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT 


31 


rial highness, the heir to the crown, to have some tendency 
toward the high heels ; at least we can plainly discover one of 
his heels higher than the other, which gives him a hobble in 
his gait. 

“Now, in the midst of these intestine disquiets, we are 
threatened with an invasion from the island of Blefuscu, which 
is the other great empire of the universe, almost as large and 
powerful as this of his majesty. For, as to what we have 
heard you affirm, that there are other kingdoms and states, in 
the wmrld, inhabited by human creatures as large as yourself, 
our philosophers are in much doubt, and would rather conjec- 
ture that you dropped from the moon or one of the stars ; be- 
cause it is certain that an hundred mortals of your bulk would 
in a short time destroy all the fruits and cattle of his majesty’s 
dominions. Besides, our histories of six thousand moons make 
no mention of any other regions than the two great empires of 
Lilliput and Blefuscu; which two mighty powers have, as I 
was going to tell you, been engaged in a most obstinate war for 
thirty-six moons past. It began upon the following occasion : 
It is allowed on all hands that the primitive way of breaking 
eggs, before we eat them, was upon the larger end; but his 
present majesty’s grandfather, while he was a boy, going to eat 
an egg, and breaking it according to the ancient practice, hap- 
pened to cut one of his fingers; whereupon, the emperor his 
father published an edict, commanding all his subjects to break 
the smaller end of their eggs. 

“ The people so highly resented this law that our histories 
toll us there have been six rebellions raised on that account ; 
wherein one emperor lost his life, and another his crown. These 
civil commotions were constantly fomented by the monarchs of 
Blefuscu; and when they were quelled the exiles always fled 
for refuge to that empire. It is computed that eleven thousand 
persons have at several times suffered death rather than submit 
to break their eggs at the smaller end. Many hundred large 


32 


GULLIVER'S TRAVELS 


volumes have been published upon this controversy; but the 
books of the Big-endians have been long forbidden, and the 
whole party rendered incapable by law of holding office. 
During the course of those troubles, the emperors of Blefuscu 
did frequently expostulate by their ambassadors, accusing us of 
making a schism in religion by offending against a fundamental 
doctrine of our great prophet Lustrog, in the fifty-fourth cha])- 
ter of the blundecral (which is their Bible). This, however, is 
thought to be a mere strain upon the text ; for the words arc 
these : that all true believers shall break their eggs at the con- 
venient end. And which is the convenient end seems, in my 
humble opinion, to be left to every man’s conscience, or at least 
left in the power of the chief magistrate to determine. 

“ Now, the Big-endian exiles have found so much credit in 
the Emperor of Blefuscu’s court, and so much private assistance 
and encouragement from their party here at home, that a 
bloody war hath been carried on between the two empires for 
thirty-six moons with various success ; during which time we 
have lost forty large ships, and a much greater number of 
smaller vessels, together with thirty thousand of our best sea- 
men and soldiers ; and the damage received by the enemy is 
reckoned to be somewhat greater than ours. However, they 
have now equipped a numerous fleet, and are just preparing to 
make a descent upon us ; and his imperial majesty, placing 
great confidence in your valor and strength, hath commanded 
me to lay this account of his affairs before you.” 

I desired the secretary to present my humble duty to the 
emperor ; and to let him know that I thought it would not 
become me, who was a foreigner, to interfere with parties ; but 
I was ready, with the hazard of my life, to defend his person 
and state against all invaders. 


CHAPTER V 


The Author, by an extraordinary stratagem, prevents an Invasion 
— A high Title is conferred upon him — Ambassadors arrive 
from the Emperor of Blefuscu, and sue for Peace. 

The empire of Blefuscu is an island, situated to the northeast 
of Lilliput, from which it is parted only by a channel of eight 
hundred yards wide. I had not yet seen it, and upon this notice 
of an intended invasion I avoided appearing on that side of the 
coast, for fear of being discovered by some of the enemy’s ships. 
They had as yet received no intelligence of me ; all intercourse 
between the two empires having been strictly forbidden during 
the war, upon pain of death. I communicated to his majesty a 
project I had formed, of seizing the enemy’s whole fleet ; which, 
as our scouts assured us, lay at anchor in the harbor, ready to 
sail with the first fair wind. I consulted the most experienced 
seamen upon the depth of the channel, which they had often 
plumbed ; and they told me that in the middle, at high-water, 
it was seventy glumglvffs deep, which is about six feet of Euro- 
pean measure ; and the rest of it fifty glumglvffs at most. I 
walked toward the northeast coast, over against Blefuscu, and, 
lying down behind a hillock, took out my small pocket per- 
spective glass, and viewed the enemy’s fleet at anchor, consisting 
of about fifty men-of-war, and a great number of transports. 

I then came back to my house, and gave order for a great 
quantity of the strongest cable and bars of iron. The cable was 
about as thick as packthread, and the bars of the length and size 
of a knitting-needle. I trebled the cable to make it stronger. 


34 


GULLIVER^ S TRAVELS 


and for the same reason I twisted three of the iron bars together, 
bending the extremities into a hook. Having thus fixed fifty 
hooks to as many cables, I went back to the northeast coast, 
and, putting oft' my coat, shoes, and stockings, walked into the 
sea, in my leathern jerkin, about half an hour before high-water. 
I waded with what haste I could, and swam in the middle about 
thirty yards, till I felt ground. I arrived at the fteet in less 
than half an hour. The enemy was so frighted when they saw 
me that they leaped out of their ships, and swam to shore, where 
there could not be fewer than thirty thousand souls. I then took 
my tackling, and, fastening a hook to the hole at the prow of 
each, I tied all the cords together at the end. 

While I was thus employed the enemy discharged several 
thousand arrows, many of which stuck in my hands and face ; 
and, besides the excessive smart, gave me much disturbance in 
my work. My greatest apprehension was for my eyes, which 
I should have infallibly lost, if I had not thought of an expedient. 
I kept, among other little necessaries, a pair of spectacles in a 
private pocket, which, as I observed before, had escaped the em- 
peror’s searchers. These I took out, and fastened as strongly as 
I could upon my nose, and, thus armed, went on boldly with my 
work, in spite of the enemy’s arrows, many of which struck 
against the glasses of my spectacles, but without any other effect 
further than a little to disarrange them. I had now fastened 
all the hooks, and, taking the knot in my hand, began to pull ; 
but not a ship would stir, for they were all too fast held by their 
ancliors. I therefore let go the cords, and, leaving the hooks 
fixed to the ships, I resolutely cut with my knife the cables that 
fastened the anchors, receiving about two hundred shots in my 
face and hands. Then I took up the knotted end of the cables, 
to which my hooks were tied, and with great ease drew fifty of 
the enemy’s largest men-of-war after me. 

The Blefuscudians, who had not the least imagination of what 
I intended, were at first confounded with astonishment. They 


A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT 


35 


: had seen me cut the cables, and thought my design was only to 
let the ships run adrift, or fall foul on each other ; but when 
I they perceived the whole fleet moving in order, and saw me pull- 
! ing at the end, they set up a scream of grief and despair that it 
is almost impossible to describe or conceive. When I had got 
out of danger I stopped a while to pick out the arrows that stuck 
^ in my hands and face ; and rubbed on .some of the same ointment 
that was given me at my first arrival, as I have formerly men- 
tioned.. I then took off my spectacles, and, waiting about an 
hour, till the tide was a little fallen, I w'aded through the middle 
with my cargo, and arrived safe at the royal port of Lilliput. 

The emperor and his whole court stood on the shore awaiting 
; the issue of this great adventure. When I came within hearing, 
I held up the end of the cable by which the fleet was fastened, 
and cried in a loud voice, “ Long live the most puissant Emperor 
of Lilliput ! ” This great prince received me at my landing with 
all possible encomiums, and created me a nardac upon the spot, 
i which is the highest title of honor among them. 

His majesty desired I would take some other opportu- 
: nity of bringing all the rest of his enemy’s ships into his 
; ports. So unmeasurable is the ambition of princes, that 
he seemed to think of nothing less than reducing the whole 
: empire of Blefuscu into a province, and governing it by a vice- 

■ roy ; of destroying the Big-endian exiles, and compelling that 

■ people to break the smaller end of their eggs, by which he 
' would remain the sole monarch of the whole world. But I 

■ endeavored to divei’t him from this design, by many arguments 
: of policy as well as justice ; and I plainly protested that I 

would never be an instrument of bringing a free and brave 
people into slavery. When the matter was debated in council, 

I the wisest part of the ministry were of my opinion. 

I This open, bold declaration of mine was so opposite to the 
’ schemes and politics of his imperial majesty that he could never 
forgive it. He mentioned it in a very artful manner at council. 


36 


GULL I VUE’S TRAVELS 


And from this time began an intrigue between his majesty and 
a junto of ministers, maliciously bent against me, which broke 
out in less than two months, and had like to have ended in my 
utter destruction. 

About three weeks after this exploit there arrived a solemn 
embassy from Blefuscu, with humble offers of a peace ; which 
was soon concluded, upon conditions very advantageous to our 
emperor. There were six ambassadors, with a train of about 
five hundred persons : and their entry was very magnificent, 
suitable to the grandeur of their master, and the importance of 
their business. When their treaty was finished, wherein I did 
them several good offices by the credit I now had, or at least ap- 
peared to have, at court, their excellencies, who were privately 
told how much I had been their friend, made me a visit. 
They began with many compliments upon my valor and 
generosity, invited me to that kingdom in the emj^eror their 
master’s name, and desired me to show them some proofs of my 
prodigious strength, of which they had heard so many wonders : 
wherein I readily obliged them. 

When I had for some time entertained their excellencies to 
their infinite satisfaction and surprise, I desired they would present 
my most humble respects to the emperor their master, the re- 
nown of whose virtues had so justly filled the whole world with 
admiration, and whose royal person I resolved to attend before 
I returned to my own country. Accordingly, the next time I 
had the honor to see our emperor, I desired his permission to 
wait on the Blefuscudian monarch, which he granted me, as I 
could plainly perceive, in a very cold manner ; but could not 
guess the reason, till I had a whisper from a certain person, that 
Flimnap and Bolgolam had represented my intercourse with 
those ambassadors as a mark of disaffection ; from which I am 
sure my heart was wholly free. 

It is to be observed that these ambassadors spoke to me by 
an interpreter, the languages of both empires differing as much 


! 


A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT 


37 


! from each other as any two in Europe, and each nation priding 
j itself upon the antiquity, beauty, and energy of their own 
j tongues, with an avowed contempt for that of their neighbor ; 
I yet our emperor, standing upon the advantage he had got by 
1 the seizure of their fleet, obliged them to deliver their creden- 
tials, and make their speech in the Lilliputian tongue. It must 
be confessed, that, from the great intercourse of trade and com- 
merce between both realms, from the continual reception of ex- 
iles, which is mutual among them, and from the custom, in each 
empire, to send their young nobility and richer gentry to the 
other, in order to polish themselves by seeing the world, and 
r understanding men and manners, there are few persons of dis- 
' tinction, or merchants, or seamen, who dwell in the maritime 
parts, but who can hold conversation in both tongues ; as I 
i found some weeks after, when I went to pay my respects to the 
Emperor of Blefuscu, which, in the midst of great misfortunes, 
through the malice of my enemies, proved a very happy adven- 
ture to me, as I shall relate in its proper place. 


CHAPTER VI 


Of the Inhabitants of Lilliput ; their Learning, Laws, and Customs ; 
the Manner of Educating their Children — The Author’s way 
of living in that Country. 

Although I do not intend to give a detailed description of 
this empire of Lilliput, yet I am content to gratify the curious 
reader with some general ideas. As the common size of the 
natives is somewhat under six inches high, so there is an exact 
proportion in all other animals, as well as plants and trees. For 
instance, the tallest horses and oxen are between four and five 
inches in height, the sheep an inch and a half, more or less ; 
their geese about the bigness of a sparrow, and so the several 
gradations, downward, till you come to the smallest, which, to 
my sight, were almost invisible ; but nature hath adapted the 
eyes of the Lilliputians to all objects proper for their view. 
They see with great exactness, but at no great distance. To 
show the sharpness of their sight toward objects that are near, 
I have been much pleased observing a cook plucking the feathers 
from a lark, which was not so large as a common fly ; and a 
young girl threading an invisible needle with invisible silk. 

, Their tallest trees are about seven feet high ; I mean some 
of those in the great royal park, the tops whereof I could but 
just reach. 

Learning for many ages hath flourished in all its branches 
among them ; but tlieir manner of writing is very peculiar, being 
neither from the left to the right, like the Europeans ; nor from 
the right to the left, like the Arabians ; nor from up to down 

38 


A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT 


39 


like the Chinese ; but aslant from one comer of the paper to the 
other. 

They buiy their dead with their heads directly downward, 
because they hold an opinion, that in eleven thousand moons 
they are all to rise again ; in which period the earth (which 
they conceive to be flat) will turn upside down, and by this 
means they shall at their resurrection be found ready standing 
on their feet. The learned among them confess the absurdity 
of this doctrine ; but the practice still continues, in compliance 
to the vulgar. 

There are some laws and customs in this empire very pecul- 
iar ; and if they were not so directly contrary to those of my 
own dear country, I should be tempted to say a little in their 
justification. The first I shall mention relates to informers. 
All crimes against the state are punished with the utmost 
severity ; but if the person accused maketh his innocence 
plainly to appear upon his trial, the accuser is immediately 
put to an ignominious death ; and out of his goods or lands the 
innocent person is quadruply recompensed for the loss of his 
time, for the danger he underwent, for* the hardship of his 
imprisonment, and for all the charges he hath been at in mak- 
ing his defence. The emperor does also confer on him some 
public mark of his favor, and proclamation is made of his 
innocence through the whole city. 

They look 'upon fraud as a greater crime than theft, and 
therefore seldom fail to punish it with death ; for they allege 
that care and vigilance may preserve a man’s goods from 
thieves, but honesty has no defence against superior cunning ; 
and, since it is necessary that there should be a perpetual 
intercourse of buying and selling, and dealing upon credit, 
where fraud is permitted or connived at, or hath no law 
to punish it, the honest dealer is always undone, and the 
knave gets the advantage. I remember when I was once in- 
terceding with the king for a criminal who had wronged his 


40 


GULLIVER’S TRAVELS 


master of a great sum of money, which he ran away with ; and 
happening to tell his majesty that it was only a breach of trust, 
the emperor thought it monstrous in me to oiler as a defence 
the greatest aggravation of the crime ; and truly I had little to 
say in return, further than that different nations had different 
customs ; for I confess I was heartily ashamed. 

Although we usually call reward and punishment the two 
hinges upon which all government turns, yet I could never ob- 
serve this maxim to be put in practice by any nation, except 
that of Lilliput. Whoever can there bring sufficient proof that 
he hath strictly observed the laws of his country for seventy-three 
moons hath a claim to certain privileges, with a sum of money, 
out of a fund appropriated for that use. These people thought 
it a prodigious defect of policy among us when I told them that 
our laws were enforced only by penalties, without any mention 
of reward. It is upon this account that the image of Justice, 
in their courts, is formed with six eyes, two before, as many 
behind, and on each side one, to signify circumspection ; with 
a bag of gold open in her right hand, and a sword sheathed in 
her left, to show she is more disposed to reward than to punish. 

In choosing persons for employment they have more regard 
to good morals than to great abilities. They suppose truth, 
justice, temperance, and the like, to be in every man’s power ; 
the practice of which virtues, assisted by experience and a good 
intention, would qualify any man for the service of his country, 
except where a course of study is required. But they thought 
the want of moral virtues was so far from being supplied by 
superior endowments of the mind that employments could never 
be put into such dangerous hands as those of persons so quali- 
fied ; and at least, that the mistakes committed by ignorance, 
in a virtuous disposition, would never be of such fatal conse- 
quence to the public weal, as the practices of a man whose 
inclinations led him to be corrupt, and had great abilities to 
manage, and multiply, and defend, his corruptions. 


A VOYAGi: TO LILLIPUT 


41 


In relating these and the following laws, I would only be 
understood to mean the original institutions, and not the most 
scandalous corruptions, into which these people are fallen by 
the degenerate nature of man. For, as to that infamous prac- 
tice of acquiring great employments by dancing on the ropes, or 
badges of favor and distinction by leaping over sticks and 
creeping under them, the reader is to observe, that they were 
first introduced by the grandfather of the emperor now reign- 
ing, and grew to the present height by the gradual increase of 
party and faction. 

Ingratitude is among them a capital crime ; for they reason, 
that whoever makes ill returns to his benefactor must needs be 
a common enemy to the rest of mankind, from whom he hath 
received no obligation, and therefore such a man is not fit to 
live. 

Their notions relating to the duties of parents and children 
differ extremely from ours. Their opinion is, that parents are 
the last of all others to be trusted with the education of their 
own children ; and therefore they have in every town public 
nurseries, where all parents, except cottagers and laborers, are 
obliged to send their infants to be reared and educated, when 
they come to the age of twenty moons, at which time they are 
supposed to have some rudiments of docility. These schools 
have certain professors, well skilled in preparing children for 
such a condition of life as befits the rank of their parents, and 
their own capacities, as well as inclinations. 

The nurseries for males of noble or eminent birth are pro- 
vided with grave and learned professors, and their several deputies. 
The clothes and food of the children are plain and simple. They 
are bred up in the principles of honor, justice, courage, modesty, 
clemency, religion, and love of their country. They are always 
employed in some business, except in the times of eating and 
sleeping, which are very short, and two hours for diversions con- 
sisting of bodily exercises. They go together in smaller or greater 


42 


GULLIVER^ S TRAVELS 


numbers to take their diversions, always accompanied by a 
professor, or one of his deputies ; whereby they avoid those 
early impressions of folly and vice to which our children are 
subject. Their parents are suffered to see them only twice 
a year. The visit lasts but an hour. They are allowed to kiss 
the child at meeting and parting : but a professor, who always 
stands by on those occasions, will not suffer them to whisper, 
or use any fondling expressions, or bring any presents of toys, 
sweetmeats, and the like. 

The money from each family for the education and entertain- 
ment of a child, upon failure of due payment, is levied by the 
emperor’s officers. 

The nurseries for children of ordinary gentlemen, merchants, 
traders, and handicrafts, are managed proportionably after the 
same manner ; only those designed for trades are put out ap- 
prentices at eleven years old ; whereas those of persons of qual- 
ity continue in their nurseries till fifteen, which answers to 
twenty-one with us : but the confinement is gradually lessened 
for the last three years. 

In the female nurseries the young girls of quality are educated 
much like the males. They are dressed by servants of their own 
sex ; till they come to dress themselves, which is at five years 
old. If it be found that these nurses ever presume to enter- 
tain the girls with frightful or foolish stories, they are imprisoned 
for a year, and banished for life to the most desolate part of the 
country. Thus the young ladies are as much ashamed of being 
cowards and fools as the men ; and despise all personal ornaments, 
beyond decency and cleanliness ; neither did I perceive any 
difference in their education, made by their difference of sex, 
only that the exercises of the females were not so robust ; and 
that some rules were given them relating to domestic life, and a 
smaller compass of learning was enjoined them : for the maxim 
is, that a wife should be always a reasonable and agreeable 
companion, because she cannot always be young. When the 


A VOYAGE TO LILLIE VT 


43 


girls are twelve years old, which among them is the marriage- 
able age, their parents or guardians take them home, with great 
expression of gratitude to the professors, and seldom without 
tears of the young lady and her companions. 

In the nurseries of females of the humbler sort the children 
are instructed in all kinds of works proper for their sex. Those 
intended for apprentices are dismissed at seven years old. The 
rest are kept to eleven. 

The cottagers and laborers keep their children at home, their 
business being only to till and cultivate the earth, and therefore 
their education is of little consequence to the public : but the 
old and diseased among them are supported by hospitals ; for 
begging is a trade unknown in this kingdom. 

And here it may perhaps divert the curious reader to be given 
some account of my manner of living in this country, during a 
residence of nine months and thirteen days. I made for myself 
a table and chair out of the largest trees in the royal park. 
Two hundred sempstresses were employed to make me linen for 
my bed and table, all of the strongest and coarsest kind they 
could get ; which, however, they were forced to quilt together 
in several folds, for the thickest was some degrees finer than 
lawn. Their linen is usually three inches wide, and three feet 
make a piece. Three hundred tailors were employed to make 
me clothes. For taking my measure I kneeled down, and they 
raised a ladder from the ground to my neck. Upon this ladder 
one of them mounted, and let fall a plumb-line from my collar 
to the floor, which just answered the length of my coat ; but my 
waist and arms I measured myself. When my clothes were fin- 
ished, which was done in my house (for the largest of theirs 
would not have been able to hold them), they looked like the 
patchw'ork made by the ladies in England, only that the cloth 
in my garments was all of a color. 

I had three hundred cooks to furnish my victuals, in little 
convenient huts built about my house, where they and their 


44 


G ULLl VER^S TRA VELS 


families lived, and prepared me two dishes apiece. I took up 
twenty waiters in my hand, and placed them on the table ; an 
hundred more attended below on the ground, some with dishes 
of meat, and some with barrels of wine ; all which the waiters 
above drew up, as I wanted, by certain cords, as we draw the 
bucket up a well in Europe. A dish of their meat was a good 
mouthful, and a barrel of their liquor a reasonable draught. Their 
beef is excellent. I have had a sirloin so large that I have 
been forced to make three bites of it : but this is rare. My 
servants were astonished to see me eat it, bones and all, as in 
our country we do the leg of a lark. Their geese and turkeys 
I usually eat at a mouthful, and I must confess they far exceed 
ours. Of their smaller fowl I could take up twenty or thirty 
at the end of my knife. 

One day his imperial majesty, being informed of my way of 
living, desired that himself and his royal consort, with the 
young princes and princesses, might have the happiness, as he 
was pleased to call it, of dining with me. They came accord- 
ingly, and I placed them on chairs of state, upon my table just 
over against me, with their guards about them. Flimnap, the 
lord high treasurer, attended there likewise with his white 
staff ; and I observed he often looked on me with a sour coun- 
tenance, which I would not seem to regard, but ate more tlian 
usual, to fill the court with admiration. I have some private 
reasons to believe that this visit from his majesty gave Flimnap 
an opportunity of doing me ill offices to his master. That min- 
ister had always been my secret enemy, though he outwardly 
caressed me more than was usual to the moroseness of his na- 
ture. He represented to the emperor the low condition of his 
treasury ; that I had cost his majesty above a million and a half 
of sprugs (their greatest gold coin) ; and, upon the whole, that it 
would be advisable in the emperor to take the first fair occasion 
of dismissing me. 


CHAPTER VII 


Th*e Author, being informed of a Design to accuse him of High- 
treason, makes his Escape to Blef uscu — His Reception there. 

Before I proceed to give an account of my leaving this 
kingdom, it may be proper to inform the reader of a private 
intrigue which had been for two months forming against me. 

I had been hitherto, all my life, a stranger to courts. I had 
indeed heard and read enough of the dispositions of great 
princes and ministers ; but never expected to have found 
such terrible effects of them in so remote a country, gov- 
erned, as I thought, by very different laws from those in 
Europe. 

When I was preparing to pay my attendance on the Emperor 
of Blefuscu, a considerable person at court (to whom I had been 
very serviceable) came to my house privately at night, in a 
sedan chair, and, without sending his name, desired admit- 
tance. The chairmen were dismissed ; I put the chair, with 
his lordship in it, into my coat-pocket, fastened the door of my 
house, placed the chair on the table, . according to my usual 
custom, and sat down by it. After the common salutations 
were over, observing his lordship’s countenance full of concern, 
and inquiring into the reason, he desired I would hear him with 
patience, in a matter that highly concerned my honor and my 
life. His speech was to the following effect : 

“You are to know,” said he, “ that several committees of 
council have been lately called on your account. 

“You are very sensible that Skyresh Bolgolam hath been 
45 


46 


GULLIVER^S TRAVELS 


your mortal enemy almost ever since your arrival. His original 
reasons I know not ; but his hatred is much increased since 
your great success against Blefuscu, by which his glory as ad- 
miral is obscured. This lord, in conjunction with Flimnap the 
high treasurer, whose enmity against you is notorious, Limtoc 
the general, Lalcon the chamberlain, and Balmuff the grand 
justiciary, have prepared articles of impeachment against you, 
for treason and other capital crimes.” 

This preface made me so impatient, being conscious of my 
own merits and innocence, tliat I was going to interrupt, when 
he entreated me to be silent, and thus proceeded : 

“Out of gratitude for the favors you have dojie me, I procured 
information of the whole proceedings, and a copy of the articles ; 
wherein I ventured my head for your service. 

“articles of impeachment against quinbus flestrin, 

THE MAN-MOUNTAIN. 

Article 1. — That the said Quinbus Flestrin, having brought 
the imperial fleet of Blefuscu into the royal port, and being 
afterward commanded by his imperial majesty to seize all the 
other ships of the said empire of Blefuscu, and reduce that empire 
to a province, to be governed by a viceroy from hence, and to 
destroy and put to death, not only all the Big-endian exiles, but 
likewise all the people of that empire who would not immediately 
forsake the Big-endian heresy ; he, tlie said Flestrin, like a 
false traitor against his most auspicious, serene, imperial majesty, 
did petition to be excused from the said service, upon pretense 
of unwillingness to force the consciences, or destroy the liberties 
and lives, of an innocent people. 

“ Article 2. — That whereas certain ambassadors arrived from 
the court of Blefuscu, to sue for peace in his majesty’s court; 
he, the said Flestrin, did, like a false traitor, aid, abet, comfort, 
and divert the said ambassadors, although he knew them to be 


A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT 


47 


servants to a prince who was lately an open enemy to his im- 
perial majesty, and in open war against his said majesty, 

“ Article 3. — That the said Qninbus Flestrin, contrary to 
the duty of a faithful subject, is now preparing to make a voy- 
age to the court and empire of Blefuscu, for which he hath 
received only verbal license from his imperial majesty; and, 
under color of the said license, doth falsely and traitorously 
intend to take the said voyage, and thereby to aid, comfort, and 
abet the Emperor of Blefuscu, so late an enemy, and in open war 
I with his imperial majesty aforesaid. 

I “ There are some other articles ; but these are the most im- 
I portant, of which I have read you an abstract. 

“ In the several debates upon this impeachment, it must be 
' confessed that his majesty gave many marks of his great lenity ; 
' often urging the services you had done him, and endeavoring 
to extenuate your crimes. The treasurer and admiral insisted 
: that you should be put to the most painful and ignominious 
' death, by setting fire to your house at night ; and the general 
was to attend with twenty thousand men, armed with poisoned 
' arrows, to shoot you on the face and hands. 

“ Reldresal, principal secretary for private affairs, was com- 
; manded by the emperor to deliver his opinion, which he accord- 
ingly did; and therein justified the good thoughts you have of 
him. He allowed your crimes to be great, but that still there 
was room for mercy, the most commendable virtue in a prince, 

I and for which his majesty was so justly celebrated. He said, 
the friendship between you and him was so well known that 
perhaps they might think him partial. However, in obedience 
to the command he had received, he would freely offer his sen- 
timents. That if his majesty, in consideration of your services, 
i and pursuant to his own merciful disposition, would please to 
spare your life, and only give order to put out both your eyes, 
he humbly conceived that, by this expedient, justice might in 
some measure be satisfied, and all the world would applaud the 


48 


GULLIVER'S TRAVELS 


lenity of the emperor, as well as the fair and generous proceed- 
ings of those who had the honor to be his counsellors. That 
the loss of your eyes would be no impediment to your bodily 
strength, by which you might still be useful to his majesty ; and 
that blindness is an addition to courage, by concealing dangers 
from us. 

“ This proposal was received with the utmost disapprobation 
by the whole board. Bolgolam, the admiral, could not preserve 
his temper ; but, rising in a fury, said he wondered how the sec- 
retary durst presume to give his opinion for preserving the life 
of a traitor; that the services you had performed were the 
great aggravation of your crimes ; that the same strength, which 
enabled you to bring over the enemy’s fleet, might serve, upon 
the first discontent, to carry it back ; that he had good reasons 
to think you were a Big-endian in your heart ; and, therefore, 
insisted you should be put to death. 

“ The treasurer was of the same opinion. He showed to 
what straits his majesty’s revenue was reduced by the charge 
of maintaining you, which would soon grow insupportable ; that 
the secretary’s expedient of putting out your eyes was no remedy 
against this evil ; that his sacred majesty and the council, who 
are your judges, were in their own consciences fully convinced 
of your guilt, which was a sufficient argument to condemn you 
to death, without the formal proofs required by the strict letter 
of the law. 

“ But his imperial majesty, fully determined against capital 
punishment, was graciously pleased to say, that since the coun- 
cil thought the loss of your eyes too mild a punishment, some 
other may be inflicted hereafter. And your friend the secre- 
tary, humbly desiring to be heard again, in answer to what the 
treasurer had objected, concerning the great charge his majesty 
was at in maintaining you, said, that his excellency, who had 
the sole disposal of the emperor’s revenue, might easily provide 
against that evil, by gradually lessening your estabiishment ; 


A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT 


49 


by which, for want of sufficient food, you would grow weak and 
faint, and consequently die in a few months. Neither would 
the stench of your carcass be then so dangerous, when it should 
become more than half diminished ; and immediately upon your 
death, five or six thousand of his majesty’s subjects might, in 
two or three days, cut your flesh from your bones, take it away 
by cartloads, and bury it in distant parts, to prevent infection, 
leaving the skeleton as a monument of wonder to posterity. 

“ Thus, by the great friendship of the secretary, the whole 
affair was compromised. It was strictly enjoined that the proj- 
ect of starving you by degrees should be kept a secret ; but 
the sentence of putting out your eyes was entered on the books ; 
none dissenting except Bolgolam, the admiral. 

“ In three days your friend the secretary will be directed to 
come to your house, and read before you the articles of im- 
peachment ; and then to signify the great lenity and favor of 
his majesty and council, whereby you are only condemned to 
the loss of your eyes, which his majesty doth not question you 
will gratefully and humbly submit to. 

“ I leave to your prudence what measures you will take ; 
and, to avoid suspicion, I must immediately return in as 
private a manner as I came.” 

His lordship did so; and I remained alone, under many 
doubts and perplexities of mind. 

It was a custom introduced by this prince and his ministry 
— very different, as I have been assured, from the practices 
of former times — that after the court had decreed any cruel 
execution, either to gratify the monarch’s resentment, or the 
malice of a favorite, the emperor made a speech to his whole 
council, expressing his great lenity and tenderness, as qualities 
known and confessed by all the world. This speech was imme- 
diately published through the kingdom ; nor did anything ter- 
rify the people so much as those encomiums on his majesty’s 
mercy; because it w^as observed that the more these praises 

E 


50 


GULLIVER’S TRAVELS 


were enlarged and insisted on, the more inhuman was the pun- 
ishment, and the sufferer more innocent. And, as to myself, I 
must confess, having never been designed for a courtier, either 
by my birth or education, I was so ill a judge of things that I 
could not discover the lenity and favor of this sentence, but 
conceived it rather to be rigorous than gentle. I sometimes 
thought of standing my trial ; for, although I could not deny 
the facts alleged in the several articles, yet I hoped they would 
admit of some extenuations. But having in my life perused 
many state trials, which I ever observed to terminate as the 
judges thought fit to direct, I durst not rely on so dangerous 
a decision, in so critical a juncture, and against such powerful 
enemies. Once I was strongly bent upon resistance ; for while 
I had liberty, the whole strength of that empire could hardly 
subdue me, and I might easily with stones pelt the metropolis 
to pieces ; but I soon rejected that project with horror, by re- 
membering the oath I had made to the emperor, the favors I 
received from him, and the high title of nardac he conferred 
upon me. 

At last I fixed upon a resolution, for which it is probable I 
may incur some censure. Having his imperial majesty’s license 
to pay my attendance upon the Emperor of Blefuscu, I took 
this opportunity, before the three days were elapsed, to send a 
letter to my friend the secretary, signifying my resolution of 
setting out that morning for Blefuscu, pursuant to the leave I 
had got ; and, without waiting for an answer, I went to that 
side of the island where our fieet lay. I seized a large man-of- 
war, tied a cable to the prow, and, lifting up the anchors, put 
my coat and shoes (together with my coverlet, which I brought 
under my arm) into the vessel, and, drawing it after me, be- 
tween wading and swimming, arrived at the royal port of 
Blefuscu, where the people had long expected me. 

They lent me two guides to direct me to the capital city, 
which is of the same name. I held the guides in my hands till I 


A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT 


51 


came within two hundred yards of the gate, when I put them 
down and desired them to go on and signify my arrival to one 
of the secretaries, and let him know I there waited his majesty’s 
command. I had an answer in about an hour, that his majesty, 
attended by the royal family, and great officers of the court, 
was coming out to receive me. I advanced a hundred yards. 
The emperor and his train alighted from their horses ; the empress 
and ladies from their coaches ; and I did not perceive they were 
in any fright or concern. I lay on the ground to kiss his 
majesty’s and the empress’ hand. I told his majesty that I was 
come, according to my promise, and with the license of the emperor 
my master, to have the honor of seeing so mighty a monarch, 
and to offer him any service in my power, consistent with my 
duty to my own prince ; not mentioning a word of my disgrace, 
because I had no regidar information of it. 

I shall not trouble the reader with the particular account of 
my reception at this court, which was suitable to the generosity 
of so great a prince ; nor of the difficulties I was in for want of 
a house and bed, being forced to lie on the ground, wrapped up 
in my coverlet. 


CHAPTER VIII 


The Author, by a lucky accident, finds means to leave Blefuscu ; 
and after some difficulties returns safe to his native Country. 

Three days after my arrival, walking out of curiosity to the 
northeast coast of the island, I observed, about a half a league 
off in the sea, something that looked like a boat overturned. I 
pulled off my shoes and stockings, and, wading two or three 
hundred yards, I found the object to approach nearer by force 
of the tide ; and then plainly saw it to be a real boat, which I 
supposed might by some tempest have been driven from a ship : 
whereupon I returned immediately toward the city, and desired 
his imperial majesty to lend me twenty of the tallest vessels 
he had left, after the loss of his fleet, and three thousand sea- 
men under the command of the vice-admiral. This fleet sailed 
round, while I went back the shortest way to the coast, where 
I first discovered the boat. I found the tide had driven it 
still nearer. The seamen were all provided with cordage 
which I had beforehand twisted to a sufficient strength. 

When the ships came up, I waded till I came within a hun- 
dred yards of the boat, after which I was forced to swim till I 
got up to it. The seamen threw me the end of the cord, which 
I fastened to a hole in the forepart of the boat, and the other 
end to a man-of-war ; but I found all my labor to little 
purpose ; for, being out of my depth, I was not able to 
work. In this necessity, I was forced to swim^ behind, and 
push the boat forward, as often as I could, with one of my 
hands ; and the tide favoring me, I advanced so far that I 

52 


A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT 


53 


could just hold up my chin and feel the ground. I rested 
two or three minutes, and then gave the boat another shove, 
and so on, till the sea was no higher than my armpits, and 
now, the most laborious part being over, I took out my 
other cables, which were stowed in one of the ships, and 
fastened them first to the boat, and then to nine of the 
vessels which attended me. The wind being favorable, the 
seamen towed and I shoved, till we arrived within forty 
yards of the shore ; and waiting till the tide was out, I got 
dry to the boat, and, by the assistance of two thousand men, 
with ropes, pulleys and levers, I made a shift to turn it on 
its bottom, and found it was but little damaged. 

By the help of certain paddles, which cost me ten days making, 
I got my boat to the royal port of Blefuscu, where a mighty 
concourse of people appeared upon my arrival, full of wonder at 
the sight of so prodigious a vessel. I told the emperor that my 
good fortune had thrown this boat in my way to carry me to 
some place whence I might return to my native country ; and 
begged his majesty’s orders for getting materials to fit it up, 
together with his license to depart; which, after some kind 
expostulations, he was pleased to grant. I did very much won- 
der, in all this time, at not having any message relating to me 
from our emperor to the court of Blefuscu. But I was after- 
ward given privately to understand that his imperial majesty, 
never imagining I had the least notice of his designs, believed I 
was only gone to Blefuscu, according to the license he had given 
me, and would return in a few days. But he was at last in pain 
at my long absence ; and, after consulting with the treasurer 
and the rest of that cabal,® a person of quality was despatched 
with the copy of the articles against me. 

The envoy had instructions to represent to the monarch of 
Blefuscu the great lenity of his master, who was content to pun- 
ish me no further than with the loss of mine eyes ; that I had 
fled from justice ; and if I did not return in two hours I should 


54 


GULLIVER'S TRAVELS 


be deprived of my title of nardac, and declared a traitor. The 
envoy further added, that, in order to maintain the peace and 
amity between both empires, his master expected that his brother 
of Blefiiscu would give orders to have me sent back to Lilliput, 
bound hand and foot, to be punished as a traitor. 

The Emperor of Blefuscu, having taken three days to consult, 
returned an answer consisting of many civilities and excuses. 
He said that, as for sending me bound, his brother knew it was 
impossible ; that, although I had deprived him of his fleet, yet 
he owed great obligations to me for many good offices I had done 
him in making the peace. That, however, both their majesties 
would soon be made easy ; for I had found a prodigious vessel 
on the shore, able to carry me on the sea, which he had given 
orders to fit up, with my own assistance and direction ; and he 
hoped, in a few weeks, both empires would be freed from so in- 
supportable an encumbrance. 

With this answer the envoy returned to Lilliput ; and the 
monarch of Blefuscu related to me all that had passed ; offering 
me, at the same time (but under the strictest confidence), his 
gracious protection, if I would continue in his service : wherein, 
although I believed him sincere, yet I resolved never more to put 
any confidence in princes or ministers, where I could possibly 
avoid it ; and, therefore, with all due acknowledgments for his 
favorable intentions, I humbly begged to be excused. I told him 
that, since fortune, whether good or evil, had thrown a vessel 
in my way, I was resolved to venture myself on the ocean, rather 
than be an occasion of difference between two such mighty mon- 
archs. Neither did I find the emperor at all displeased ; and I 
discovered, by accident, that he was very glad of my resolution, 
and so were most of his ministers. 

These considerations moved me to make my departure some- 
what sooner than I intended ; to which the court, impatient to 
have me gone, very readily contributed. Five hundred workmen 
were employed to make two sails for my boat, according to my 


A VOYAGE TO LILLIE VT 


55 


directions, by quilting thirteen folds of their strongest linen to- 
gether. I was at the pains of making ropes and cables by twist- 
ing ten, twenty or thirty of the thickest and strongest of theirs. 
A great stone that I happened to find, after a long search, by 
the seashore, served me for an anchor. I had the tallow of three 
hundred cows for greasing my boat, and other uses. I was at 
incredible pains in cutting down some of the largest timber-trees 
for oars and masts ; wherein I was, however, much assisted by 
his majesty’s ship-carpenters, who helped me in smoothing them 
after I had done the rough work. 

In about a month, when all was prepared, I sent to receive 
his majesty’s commands, and to take my leave. The emperor 
and royal family came out of the palace. I lay down to kiss his 
hand, which he very graciously gave me. His majesty presented 
me with fifty purses of two hundred sprugs apiece, together with 
his picture at full length, which I put immediately into one of 
my gloves, to keep it from being hurt. The ceremonies at my 
departure were too many to trouble the reader with. 

I stored the boat with the carcasses of a hundred oxen and 
three hundred sheep, with bread and drink proportionable, and 
as much meat ready dressed as four hundred cooks could pro- 
vide. I took with me six cows and two bulls alive, with as 
many ewes and rams, intending to carry them into my own 
country. And, to feed them on board, I had a good bundle 
of hay and a bag of corn. I w*ould gladly have taken a dozen 
of the natives, but this was a thing which the emperor would 
by no means permit ; and, besides a diligent search into my 
pockets, his majesty engaged my honor not to carry away 
any of his subjects, although with their own consent and 
desire. 

Having thus prepared all things as well as I was able, I set 
sail on the 24th day of September, 1701, at six in the morn- 
ing ; and when I had gone about four leagues to the northward, 
the wind being at southeast, at six in the evening I descried a 


56 


GULLIVER'S TRAVELS 


small island, about half a league to the northwest. I advanced 
forward, and cast anchor on the lee side of the island. I then 
took some refreshment, and went to my rest. After I awaked, 
I ate breakfast ; and, heaving anchor, the wind being favorable, 
I steered the same course that I had done the day before, 
wherein I was directed by my pocket compass. My intention 
was to reach, if possible, one of those islands which I had 
reason to believe lay to the northeast of Van Diemen’s 
Land.° 

I discovered nothing all that day ; but upon the next, about 
three in the afternoon, when I had, by my computation, made 
twenty-four leagues from Blefuscu, I descried a ship steering to 
the southeast. I hailed her, but could get no answer ; yet I 
found I gained upon her, for the wind slackened. I made all 
the sail I could, and in half an hour she spied me, then hung 
out her flag, and discharged a gun. It is not easy to express 
the joy I was in, upon the unexpected hope of once more see- 
ing my beloved country, and the dear ones I left in it. The 
ship slackened her sails, and I came up with her between five 
and six in the evening, September 26th ; but my heart leaped 
within me to see her English colors. I put my cows and sheep 
into my coat-pockets, and got on board with all my little cargo 
of provisions. 

The vessel was an English merchantman, returning from 
Japan ; the captain, Mr. John Biddel of Deptford, a very civil 
man and .an excellent sailor. There were about fifty men in 
the ship ; and here I met an old comrade of mine, one Peter 
Williams, who gave me a good character to the captain. This 
gentleman treated me with kindness, and desired I would let him 
know what place I came from last, and whither I was bound ; 
which I did in few words, but he thought I was raving, and that 
the dangers I had undergone had disturbed my head ; whereupon 
I took my black cattle and sheep out of my pocket, which, after 
great astonishment, clearly convinced him of my veracity. I then 


A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT 


57 


showed him the gold given me by the Emperor of Blefuscii, to- 
gether with his majesty’s picture at full length, and some other 
rarities of that country. I gave him two purses of two hun- 
dred sprugs each, and promised, when we arrived in England, 
to make him a present of a cow and a sheep. 

I shall not trouble the reader with a particular account of 
this voyage, which was very prosperous for the most part. We 
arrived in the Downs® on the 1 3th of April, 1 7 02. I had only one 
misfortune, that the rats on board carried away one of my 
sheep. I found her bones in a hole, picked clean from the 
flesh. The rest of my cattle I got safe on shore, and set them 
a-grazing in a bowding green at Greenwich,® where the fineness 
of the grass made them feed very heartily. I could not pos- 
sibly have' preserved them in so long a voyage, if the captain 
had not allowed me some of his best biscuit, which rubbed to 
powder, and mingled with water, was their constant food. The 
short time I continued in England, I made a considerable 
profit by showing my cattle to many persons of quality and 
others ; and before I began my second voyage, I sold them 
for six hundred pounds. Since my last return I find the breed 
is considerably increased, especially the sheep, which I hope will 
prove much to the advantage of the woollen manufacture, by 
the fineness of the fleeces. 

I stayed but two months with my wife and family ; for my 
insatiable desire of seeing foreign countries would sutter me to 
continue no longer. I left fifteen hundred pounds with my 
wife, and fixed her in a good house at Redriff.® My remaining 
stock I carried with me, part in money and part in goods, in 
hopes to improve my fortunes. My uncle John had left me an 
estate in land, near Epping, of about thirty pounds a-year ; and 
I had a long lease of a London inn, which yielded me as much 
more ; so that I was not in any danger of leaving my family 
upon the parish. My son Johnny, named so after his uncle, 
was at the grammar-school. My daughter Betty was at her 


58 


GULLIVER'S TRAVELS 


needlework. I took leave of my wife and boy and girl, with 
tears on both sides, and went on board the Adventure^ a mer- 
chant ship of three hundred tons, bound for Surat,® Captain 
John Nicholas, of Liverpool, commander. But my account 
of this voyage must be referred to the second part of my 
travels. 


PART II 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG 



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A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG 


CHAPTER I 

A great Storm ; the Long-boat sent to fetch water, the Author goes 
with it to discover the Country — He is left on shore, is seized 
by one of the natives, and carried to a Farmer’s House — His 
reception there, with several Accidents that happened — 
A Description of the Inhabitants. 

We had a very prosperous voyage till we arrived at the Cape 
of Good Hope, where we landed for fresh water ; but discover- 
ing a leak, we wintered there ; and the captain falling sick of 
an ague, we could not leave the Cape till the end of March. 
We then set sail, and had a good voyage till we passed the 
Straits of Madagascar® ; but having got northward of that 
island, and to about five degrees south latitude, the winds, which 
in those seas blow a constant equal gale between the north and 
west, from the beginning of December to the beginning of May, 
on the 19th of April began to blow with much greater violence, 
and more westerly than usual, continuing so for twenty days 
together. During that time we were driven a little to the 
east of the Molucca Islands,® and about three degrees northward 
of the line, as our captain found by an observation he took the 
2d of May. The wind had now ceased, and it was a perfect calm, 
whereat I was not a little rejoiced. But the captain, being a man 

01 


62 


GULLIVER^S TRAVELS 


well experienced in the navigation of those seas, bid ns all pre- 
pare against a storm, and the day following, a southern wind, 
called the southern monsoon, ° began to set in, and soon it was 
a very fierce storm. 

During this storm, wdiich was followed by a strong wind 
west-southwest, we were carried, by my computation, about 
five hundred leagues to the east, so that the oldest sailor on 
board could not tell in what part of the world we were. Our 
provisions held out well, our ship was stanch, and our crew all 
in good health j but we were in the utmost distress for water. 
We thought it best to hold on the same course, rather than 
turn more northerly, which might have brought us to the north- 
west parts of Great Tartary, ° and into the Frozen Sea. 

On the 16th day of June, 1703, a boy on the topmast dis- 
covered land. On the T7th we came in full view of a great 
island, or continent, on the south side whereof was a small neck 
of land jutting out into the sea, and a creek too shallow to hold 
a ship of above one hundred tons. We cast anchor within a 
league of this creek, and our captain sent a dozen of his men 
well armed in the long-boat, with vessels for water, if any could 
be found. I desired his leave to go with them, that I might 
see the country, and make what discoveries I could. When 
we came to land we saw no river or spring, nor any sign of 
inhabitants. Our men therefore wandered on the shore to find 
some fresh water near the sea, and I walked alone about a 
mile on the other side, where I observed the country all barren 
and rocky. 

I now began to be weary, and, seeing nothing to entertain 
my curiosity, I returned toward the creek ; and the sea being 
full in my view, I saw our men already got into the boat, and 
rowing to the ship. I was going to halloo after them, al- 
though it had been to little purpose, when I observed a huge 
creature walking after them in the sea, as fast as he could ; he 
waded not much deeper than his knees, and took prodigious 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG 


63 


strides ; but our men had got the start of him half a league, and 
the sea thereabouts being full of sharp pointed rocks, the mon- 
ster was not able to overtake the boat. This I was afterward 
told, for I durst not stay to see the issue of that adventure ; 
but ran as fast as I could the way I first went, and then climbed 
up a steep hill, which gave me some prospect of the country. 
I found it fully cultivated ; but that which first surprised me 
was the length of the grass, which in those grounds that seemed 
to be kept for hay was above twenty feet high. 

I got into a highroad, for so I took it to be, though it served 
to the inhabitants only as a footpath through a field of barley. 
Here I walked on for some time, but could see little on either 
side, it being now near harvest, and the grain rising at least 
forty feet. I was an hour walking to the end of this field, 
which was fenced in with a hedge of at least one hundred and 
tw^enty feet high, and the trees so lofty that I could make 
no computation of their altitude. There was a stile- to pass 
from this field into the next. It had four steps, and a stone 
to cross over when you came to the uppermost. It was 
impossible for me to climb this stile, because every step was 
six feet high. I was endeavoring to find some gap in the 
hedge, when I discovered in the next field, advancing toward 
the stile, one of the inhabitants of the same size with him 
whom I saw in the sea pursuing our boat. He appeared 
as tall as an ordinary church steeple, and took about ten 
yards at every stride, as near as I could guess. 

I was struck with the utmost fear and astonishment, and 
ran to hide myself in the barley, whence I saw him at 
the top of the stile, looking back into the field he had 
just left and heard him call in a voice many degrees 
louder than a speaking-trumpet ; but the noise was so high 
in the air that at first I certainly thought it was thunder. 
Whereupon seven monsters, like himself,® came toward him with 
reaping-hooks in their hands, each hook about the largeness of 


64 


GULLIVER'^ S TRAVELS 


six scythes. These people were not so well clad as the first, 
whose servants or laborers they seemed to be ; for, upon some 
words he spoke, they w^ent to reap the corn in the field where I 
lay. I kept from them at as great a distance as I could, but was 
forced to move with extreme difficulty, for the stalks of the corn 
were sometimes not above a foot apart, so that I could hardly 
squeeze my body betwixt them. However, I made a shift to 
go forward till I came to a part of the field where the corn had 
been laid by the rain and wind. Here it was impossible for me 
to advance a step ; for the stalks were so interwoven that I 
could not creep through, and the beards of the fallen ears so 
strong and pointed that they pierced through my clothes into 
my flesh. At the same time I heard the reapers not more than 
a hundred yards behind me. 

Being quite dispirited with toil, and wholly overcome by grief 
and despair, I lay down between two ridges and heartily wished I 
might there end my days. I bemoaned my desolate widow and 
fatherless children. I lamented my own folly and wilfulness 
in attempting a second voyage, against the advice of all my 
friends and relations. In this terrible agitation of mind I could 
not forbear thinking of Lilliput, whose inhabitants looked 
upon me as the greatest prodigy that ever appeared in the 
world ; where I was able to draw an imperial fleet in my liand, 
and perform those other actions which will be recorded forever 
in the chronicles of that empire. I reflected what a mortifi- 
cation it must prove to me to appear as inconsiderable in 
this nation as one single Lilliputian would be among us. But 
this I conceived was to be the least of my misfortunes ; for, 
what could I expect but to be a morsel in the mouth of 
the first among these enormous barbarians that should hap- 
pen to seize me? 

Scared and confounded as I was, I could not forbear 
going on with these reflections, when one of the reapers, 
approaching within ten yards of the ridge where I lay, made me 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG 


65 


apprehend that with the next step I should be squashed to death 
under his foot, or cut in two with his reaping-hook. And there- 
fore when he was again about to move, I screamed as loud as 
fear could make me ; whereupon the huge creature trod short, and, 
looking round about under him for some time, at last espied me 
as I lay on the ground. He considered awhilej with the caution 
of one who endeavors to lay hold on a small dangerous animal 
in such a manner that it may not be either able to scratch or 
to bite him, as I myself have sometimes done with a weasel in 
England. 

! At length he ventured to take me up behind, by the middle, 

I between his forefinger and thumb, and brought me within three 
j yards of his eyes, that he might behold my shape more perfectly, 
j I guessed his meaning, and my good fortune gave me so much 
presence of mind that I resolved not to struggle in the least as 
he held me in the air above sixty feet from the ground, although 
he grievously pinched my sides, for fear I should slip through 
his fingers. All I ventured was to raise mine eyes toward tlie 
sun, and place my hands together in a supplicating posture, and 
to speak some words in a humble, melancholy tone, suitable 
to the condition I then was in ; for I apprehended every moment 
that he would dash me against the ground, as we usually do any 
little hateful animal which we have a mind to destroy. But 
, my good star would have it that he appeared pleased with my 
' voice and gestures, and began to look upon me as a curiosity, 

I much wondering to hear me pronounce articulate words, although 
he could not understand them. In the meantime I was not able 
to forbear groaning and shedding tears, and turning my head 
toward my sides ; letting Kim know as well as I could how cruelly 
I was hurt by the pressure of his thumb and finger. He seemed 
to apprehend my meaning ; for, lifting up the skirt of his coat, 
he put me gently into it, and immediately ran along with me to 
his master, who was a substantial farmer, and the same person 
I had first seen in the field. 


66 


GULLIVER'S TRAVELS 


Tlie farmer having (as I supposed by their talk) received 
such an account of me as his servant could give him, took a piece 
of a small straw, about the size of a walking-staff, and therewith 
lifted up the skirts of my coat ; which, it seems, he thought to 
be some kind of covering that nature had given me. He blew 
my hair aside to take a better view of my face. He called his 
men about him, and asked them, as I afterward learned, whether 
they had ever seen in the fields any little creature that resembled 
me ? He then placed me softly on the ground upon all fours, 
but I got immediately up, and walked slowly backward and 
forward, to let thos^ people see I had no intent to run away. 
They all sat down in a circle about me, the better to observe my 
motions. 

I pulled off my hat, and made a low bow toward the farmer. 
I fell on my knees, and lifted up my hands and eyes, and spoke 
several words as loud as I could. I took a purse of gold out of 
my pocket, and humbly presented it to him. He received it on 
the palm of his hand, then applied it close to his eye to see what 
it was, and afterward turned it several times with the point of 
a pin, but could make nothing of it. Whereupon I made a sign 
that he should place his hand on the ground. I then took the 
purse, and opening it, poured all the gold into his palm. There 
were six Spanish pieces of four pistoles® each, besides twenty or 
thirty smaller coins. I saw him wet the tip of his little finger 
upon his tongue, and take up one of my largest pieces, and then 
another ; but he seemed to be wholly ignorant what they were. 
He made me a sign to put them again into my purse, and the 
purse again into my pocket, w^hich, after offering to him several 
times, I thought it best to do. 

The farmer, by this time, was convinced I must be a rational 
creature. He spoke often to me ; but the sound of his voice 
pierced my ears like that of a water-mill, yet his words were 
articulate enough. I answered as loud as I could in several 
languages, and he often laid his ear within two yards of me ; but 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG 


67 


all in vain, for we were wholly unintelligible to each other. He 
then sent his servants to their work, and taking his handkerchief 
out of his pocket, he doubled, and spread it on his left hand, 
which he plac.ed fiat on the ground, with the palm upward, mak- 
ing me a sign to step into it, as I could easily do, for it was 
not above a foot in thickness. I thought it my part to obey ; 
and for fear of falling laid myself at full length upon the hand- 
kerchief, with the remainder of which he lapped me up to the 
head for further security, and in this manner carried me home 
to his house. There he called his wife, and showed me to her ; 
but she screamed and ran back, as women in England do at the 
sight of a toad or a spider. However, when she had awhile seen 
my behavior, and how well I observed the signs her husband made, 
she was soon reconciled, and by degrees grew extremely tender of me. 

It was about twelve at noon, and a servant brought in dinner. 
It was only one substantial dish of meat (fit for the plain con- 
dition of an husbandman) in a dish of about twenty-four feet 
diameter. The company were, the farmer and his wife, three 
children, and an old grandmother. When they were sat down, 
the farmer placed me at some distance from him on the table, 
which was thirty feet high from the floor. I was in a terrible 
fright, and kept as far as I could from the edge, for fear of fall- 
ing. The wife minced a bit of meat, then crumbled some bread 
on a trencher, and placed it before me. I made her a low bow, 
took out my knife and began to eat, which gave them exceeding 
delight. The mistress sent her maid for a small cup, which held 
about two gallons, and filled it with drink ; I took up the vessel 
with much difficulty in both hands, and in a most respectful man- 
ner drank to her ladyship’s health, expressing the words as loud 
as I could in English, which made the company laugh so heartily, 
that I was almost deafened with the noise. This liquor tasted 
like cider, and was not unpleasant. 

Then the master made me a sign to come to his trencher side ; 
but as I walked on the table, being in great surprise all tlie time. 


68 


G ULLI VER'S TEA VELS 


as the indulgent reader will easily conceive and excuse, I hap- 
pened to stumble against a crust, and fell flat on my face, but 
received no hurt. I got up immediately, and observing the good 
people to be in much concern, I took my hat (which I held 
under my arm out of good manners)* and waving it over my 
head, made three huzzas, to show I had got no mischief by my 
fall. But advancing forward toward my master (as I shall 
henceforth call him) his youngest son, who sat next him, a 
boy of about ten years old, took me up by the legs, and held me 
so high in the air that I trembled in every limb ; but his father 
snatched me from him, and at the same time gave him such a 
box on the left ear as would have felled a European troop of 
horse to the earth, ordering him to be taken from the table. Being 
afraid the boy might owe me a spite, and well remembering how 
mischievous all children among us naturally are to sparrows, 
rabbits, young kittens, and puppy-dogs, I fell on my knees, and, 
pointing to the boy, made my master to understand, as well as 
I could, that I desired his son might be pardoned. The father 
complied, and the lad took his seat again, whereupon I went to 
him, and kissed his hand, which my master took, and made him 
stroke me gently with it. 

In the midst of dinner my mistress’ favorite cat leaped into 
her lap. I heard a noise behind me like that of a dozen stock- 
ing-weavers at work ; and turning my head I found it proceeded 
from the purring of this animal, who seemed to be three times 
larger than an ox, as I computed by the view of her head and 
one of her paws, while her mistress was feeding and stroking 
her. The flerceness of this creature’s countenance altogether 
discomposed me though I stood at the further end of the table, 
above fifty feet off ; and although my mistress held her fast, I 
feared she might give a spring, and seize me in her talons. But 
it happened there was no danger ; for the cat took not the least 
notice of me when my master placed me within three yards of 
her. And, as I have been always told, that flying or showing 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG 


69 


fear before a fierce animal is a certain way to make it pursue or 
attack you, so I resolved, in this dangerous juncture, to show no 
manner of concern. I walked with intrepidity five or six times 
before the very head of the cat, and came within a half a yard 
of her ; whereupon she drew herself back, as if she were afraid 
of me. I had less apprehension concerning the dogs, though 
three or four came into the room, one of which was a mastiff, equal 
in bulk to four elephants, and another a greyhound, somewhat 
taller than the mastiff, but not so large. 

When dinner was almost done the nurse came in with a child 
a year old in her arms, who immediately spied me, and began 
a squall that you might have heard for five miles, after the 
usual oratory of infants, to get me for a plaything. The mother, 
out of pure indulgence, took me up, and put me toward the child, 
who presently seized me by the middle, and got my head in his 
mouth, where I roared so loud that the urchin was frighted, and 
let me drop, and I should infallibly have broken my neck, if the 
mother had not held her apron under me. The nurse, to quiet her 
babe, made use of a rattle, which was a kind of hollow vessel filled 
with great stones, and fastened by a cable to the child’s waist. 

When dinner was done my master went out to his laborers, 
and, as I could discover by his voice and gesture, gave his wife 
a strict charge to take care of me. I was very tired, and disposed 
to sleep, which my mistress perceiving she put me on her own 
bed, and covered me with a clean white handkerchief, but larger 
and coarser than the mainsail of a man-of-war. 

I slept about two hours, and dreamed I was at home with my 
wife and children, which aggravated my sorrows when I awoke 
and found myself alone in a vast room, between two and three 
hundred feet wide, and above two hundred high, lying in a bed 
twenty yards wide. My mistress was gone about her household 
affairs, and had locked me in. The bed was eight yards from 
the floor. I wished to get down, but durst not presume to call ; 
and if I had it would have been in vain, with such a voice as 


70 


GVLLlVETi’S TRAVELS 


mine. While I was waiting two rats crept up the curtains, and 
ran smelling backward and forward on the bed. One of them 
came up almost to my face, whereupon I rose in a fright, and 
drew out my hanger ° to defend myself. These horrible animals 
had the boldness to attack me on both sides, and one of them 
held his forefeet at my collar ; but I had the good fortune to 
strike him dead before he could do me any mischief. He fell 
down at my feet ; and the other, seeing the fate of his comrade, 
made his escape, but not without one good wound on the back, 
which I gave him as he tied. After this exploit I walked gently 
to and fro on the bed, to recover my breath and loss of spirits. 
These creatures were of the size of a large mastiff, but infinitely 
more nimble and fierce ; so that, if I had taken off my sword before 
I went to sleep, I must have infallibly been torn to pieces and 
devoured. I measured the tail of the dead rat, and found it to be 
two yards long, wanting an inch ; but it went against my stomach 
to drag the carcass off the bed, where it lay still bleeding. 

Soon afterward my mistress came into the room, who, seeing 
me all bloody, ran and took me up in her hand. I pointed to 
the dead rat, smiling, and making other signs to show I was not 
hurt ; whereat she was extremely rejoiced, calling the maid to 
take up the dead rat with a pair of tongs, and throw it out of 
the window. Then she set me on a table, where I showed her 
my hanger all bloody, and wiping it on the skirt of my coat, 
returned it to the scabbard. 

I hope the gentle reader will excuse me for dwelling on these 
and the like particulars. I have been chiefly studious of truth, 
without affecting any ornaments of learning or of style. But 
the whole scene of this voyage made so strong an impression 
on my mind, and is so deeply fixed in my memory, that, in com- 
mitting it to paper, I did not omit one material circumstance. 
However, upon a strict review, I blotted out several passages 
of less moment, which were in my first copy, for fear of being 
censured as tedious and trifling. 


CHAPTER II 


A Description of the Farmer’s Daughter — The Author carried to 
a Market-town, and then to the Metropolis — The Particulars 
of his Journey. 

i 

My mistress had a daughter nine years old, a bright child 
for her age, very dexterous at her needle, and skilful in dressing 
her doll. Her mother and she contrived to fit up the dolFs cradle 
for me to lie in at night. The cradle was put into a small 
drawer of a bureau, and the drawer placed upon a hanging shelf 
for fear of the rats. This was my bed all the time I stayed with 
those people, though made more convenient by degrees, as I be- 
gan to learn their language, and make my wants known. This 
young girl was so handy that she made me seven shirts and some 
other linen, of as fine cloth as could be got, which indeed was 
coarser than sackcloth ; and these she constantly washed for me 
with her own hands. She was likewise my schoolmistress, to 
teach me the language. When I pointed to anything she told 
me the name of it in her own tongue, so that in a few days 
I was able to call for whatever I had a mind to. She was very 
good-natured, and not above forty feet high, being little for her 
age. She gave me the name of Grildrig^ which the family took 
up, and afterward the whole kingdom. The word imports what 
the English call manikin. To her I chiefly owe my preserva- 
tion in that country. We never parted while I was there. I 
called her my Glumdalclitch, or little nurse, and I should be 
guilty of great ingratitude if I omitted this honorable mention 
of her care and affection toward me, which I heartily wish it lay 
in my power to requite as she deserves. 

71 


72 


GULLIVER'S TRAVELS 


It now began to be known and talked of in the neighborhood 
that my master had found a strange animal in the field, about 
the bigness of a splacnuck, but exactly shaped in every ptirt like 
a human creature ; which it likewise imitated in all its actions ; 
seemed to speak in a little language of its own, had already 
learned several words of theirs, went erect upon two legs, was 
tame and gentle, would come when it was called, do whatever 
it was bid, had the finest limbs in the world, and a complexion 
fairer than a nobleman’s daughter of three years old. Another 
farmer, who lived hard by, and was a particular friend of my 
master, came on a visit on purpose to inquire into the truth of 
this story. I was immediately produced, and placed upon a 
table, where I walked as I was commanded, drew my hanger, 
made my reverence to my master’s guest, asked him in his own 
language how he did, and told him he ivas ivelcome, just as my 
little nurse had instructed me. This man, who was old and 
dim-sighted, put on his spectacles to behold me better, at which 
I could not forbear laughing very heartily, for his eyes appeared 
like the full moon shining into a chamber at two window^s. 
Our people, who discovered the cause of my mirth, bore me com- 
pany in laughing, at which the old fellow was angry and out of 
countenance. He had the character of a great miser ; and, to 
my misfortune, he well deserved it, by the advice he gave my 
master, to show me as a sight upon a market-day in the next 
town, which was about twenty-two miles from our house. 

I guessed there was some mischief contriving, when I observed 
my master and his friend whispering long together, sometimes 
pointing at me. But the next morning Glumdalclitch, my little 
nurse, told me the whole matter, which she had cunningly found 
out from her mother. The poor girl fell a-weeping with shame 
and grief. She apprehended some mischief ’would happen to 
me from rude, vulgar folks, who might squeeze me to death, or 
break one of my limbs by taking me in their hands. She said 
her papa and mamma had promised that Grildrig should be 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG 


73 


hers ; but now she found they meant to serve her as they did 
last year, when they pretended to give her a lamb, and yet, as 
soon as it was fat, sold it to a butcher. For my own part, I 
may truly affirm, that I was less concerned than my nurse. I 
had a strong hope, which never left me, that I should one day 
recover my liberty ; and as to the ignominy of being carried 
about for a curiosity, I considered that such a misfortune could 
never be charged upon me as a reproach, if ever I should return 
to England; since the king of Great Britain himself, in my 
condition, must have undergone the same distress. 

! My master, pursuant to the advice of his friend, carried me 
in a box the next market-day to the neighboring town, and took 
along with him his little daughter, my nurse, upon a pillion,® 
behind him. The box was closed on every side, with a little 
door for me to go in and out, and a few gimlet holes to let in 
air. The girl had been so careful as to put the quilt of her doll’s 
[; bed into it, for me to lie down on. However, I was terribly 
shaken and discomposed in this journey, though it was but of 
; half an hour : for the horse went about forty feet at every step, 
and trotted so high that the agitation was equal to the rising 
and falling of a ship in a great storm, but much more frecpient. 

■ My master alighted at an inn which he used to frequent ; and 
^ after consulting awhile with the innkeeper, and making some 
^ necessary preparations, he hired the crier,® to give notice through 
^ the town of a strange creature to be seen at the sign of the 
( Green Eagle, not so big as a splacnuck (an animal in that 
! country, very finely shaped, about six feet long) and in every 
part of the body resembling a human creature ; could speak 
several words, and perform a hundred diverting tricks. 

' I was placed upon a table in the largest room of the inn, 

! which might be nearly three hundred feet square. My little 
nurse stood on a low stool close to the table, to take care of 
me, and direct what I should do. My master, to avoid a 
crowd, would suffer only thirty people at a time to see me. 


74 


GULLIVER^S TRAVELS 


I walked about the table as the girl commanded : she asked 
me questions, as far as she knew my understanding of the lan- 
guage reached, and I answered them as loud as I could. I 
turned about several times to the company, paid my humble 
respects, said they were welcome^ and used some other speeches 
I had been taught. I took up a thimble filled with liquor, 
which Glumdalclitch had given me for a cup, and drank their 
health. 1 drew out my hanger, and fiourished with it after the 
manner of fencers in England. My nurse gave me part of a 
straw, which I exercised as a pike, having learned the art in 
my youth. I was that day shown to twelve sets of company, 
and as often forced to act over again the same fopperies, till I 
was half-dead with weariness and vexation : for those who had 
seen me made such wonderful reports that the people were 
ready to break down the doors to come in. My master, for his 
own interest, would not suffer any one to touch me except my 
nurse : and to prevent danger, benches were set round the table, 
at such a distance as put me out of everybody’s reach. How- 
ever, a mischievous schoolboy aimed a hazelnut directly at my 
head, which very narrowly missed me. It came with so much 
violence that had the aim been true it would have infallibly 
knocked out my brains, for it was as large as a small 
pumpkin ; but I had the satisfaction to see the young rogue 
well beaten and turned out of the room. 

My master gave public notice that he would show me again 
the next market-day ; and in the meantime he prepared a more 
convenient vehicle for me, which he had reason enough to do ; 
for I was so tired with my first journey, and with entertaining 
company for eight hours together, that I could hardly stand 
upon my legs, or speak a w*ord. It was at least three days 
before I recovered my strength ; and that I might have no rest 
at home all the neighboring gentlemen from a hundred miles 
around, hearing of my fame, came to see me at my master’s 
own house. They were accompanied by their wives and children, 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG 


75 


and for some time I had but little ease any day of the 
week (except Wednesday, which is their Sabbath), although I 
was not carried to the town. 

My master, finding how profitable I was like to be, resolved 
to carry me to the most considerable cities of the kingdom. 
Having therefore provided himself with all things necessary for 
a long journey, and settled his affairs at home, he took leave of 
his wdfe, and upon the 17th of August, 1703, about two months 
after my arrival, we set out for the metropolis, situated near the 
middle of that empire, and about three thousand miles distance 
from our house. My master made his daughter Glumdalclitch 
ride behind him. She carried me on her lap, in a box tied about 
her waist. The girl had lined it on all sides with the softest 
cloth she could get, well quilted underneath, furnished it with 
her doll’s bed, provided me with linen and other necessaries, and 
made everything as convenient as she could. We had no other 
company but a boy of the house, who rode after us with the 
luggage. 

My master’s design was to show me in all the towns by the 
way, and to go from the main road for fifty or a hundred miles, 
to any village or person of quality’s house, where he might expect 
custom. We made easy journeys, of not above seven or eight 
score miles a day : for Glumdalclitch, on purpose to spare me, 
complained she was tired with the trotting of the horse. She 
often took me out of my box, at my own desire, to give me air, 
and show me the country, but always held me fast, by a lead- 
ing string.® We passed over five or six rivers, many degrees 
broader and deeper than -the Nile or the Ganges ; and there was 
hardly a rivulet so small as the Thames at London Bridge. We 
were ten weeks on our journey, and I was shown in eighteen 
large towns, besides many villages and private families. 

On the 26th of October we arrived at the metropolis, called 
in their language Lorhrulgrud^ or Pride of the Universe. My 
master took a lodging in the principal street of the city, not far 


76 


GULLIVER'S TRAVELS 


from the royal palace, and put out hand bills in the usual form, 
containing an exact description of my person and accomplish- 
ments. He hired a large room between three and four hundred 
feet wide. He provided a table sixty feet in diameter, upon 
which I was to act my part, and palisadoed it round three feet 
from the edge, and as many high, to prevent my falling over. 
I was shown ten times a day, to the wonder and satisfaction of 
all people. I could now speak the language tolerably well, and 
perfectly understood every word that was spoken to me. Be- 
sides, I had learned their alphabet, and could make a shift to 
explain a sentence here and there ; for Glumdalclitch had been 
my instructor while we were at home, and at leisure hours dur- 
ing our journey. She carried a little book in her pocket, not 
much larger than a Sanson’s Atlas. ° It was a common treatise 
for the use of young girls, giving a short account of their religion. 
Out of this she taught me my letters, and interpreted the words. 


CHAPTER III 


The Author is sent for to Court — The Queen buys him of his master, 
the Farmer, and presents him to the King — He disputes with 
his Majesty’s great Scholars — An Apartment at Court provided 
for the Author — He is in high favor with the Queen — He 
defends the honor of his own Country — He quarrels with the 
Queen’s Dwarf. 

The frequent labors I underwent every day made in a few 
weeks a very considerable change in my health ; the more my 
master got by me the more insatiable he grew. I had quite 
lost my appetite and was almost reduced to a skeleton. The 
farmer observed this, and, concluding that I soon must die, re- 
solved to make as much money out of me as he could. While 
he was thus reasoning and resolving with himself, a gentleman- 
usher came from court, commanding my master to carry me 
immediately thither for the diversion of the queen and her 
ladies. Some of the latter had already been to see me, and re- 
ported strange things of my beauty, behavior, and good sense. 
Her majesty, and those who attended her, were beyond measure 
delighted with my demeanor. I fell on my knees, and begged 
the honor of kissing her imperial foot ; but this gracious prin- 
cess held out her little finger toward me after I was set on a 
table, which I embraced in both my arms, and put. the tip of it 
with the utmost respect to my lips. She asked me some gen- 
eral questions about my country and my travels, which I 
answered as distinctly, and in as few' words as I could. She 
asked, whether I would be content to live at court? 

I bowed down to the board of the table, and humbly answered, 

77 


78 


GULLIVER^ S TRAVELS 


that I was my master’s slave ; but if I were at my own disposal 
I should be proud to devote my life to her majesty’s service. 

She then asked my master, whether he were willing to sell 
me at a good price ? 

He, who apprehended I could not live a month, was ready 
enough to part with me, and demanded a thousand pieces of 
gold, which were ordered given him on the spot, each piece be- 
ing about the bigness of eight hundred moidores,° but, allowing 
for the proportion of all things between that country and 
Europe, was hardly so great a sum as a thousand guineas 
would be in England. 

I then said to the queen, since I was now her majesty’s 
most humble creature and vassal, I must beg the favor that 
Glumdalclitch, who had always tended me with so much care 
and kindness, and understood how to do it so well, might be 
admitted into her service, and continue to be my nurse and 
instructor. 

Her majesty agreed to my petition, and easily got the farmer’s 
consent, who was glad enough to have his daughter preferred 
at court, and the girl herself was not able to hide her joy. My 
late master withdrew, bidding me hirewell, and saying he had 
left me in a good service : to which I replied not a word, only 
making him a slight bow. 

The queen observed my coldness, and when the farmer was 
gone out of the apartment, asked me the reason. I made 
bold to tell her majesty that I owed no other obligation to my 
late master than his not dashing out the brains of a poor 
harmless creature found by chance in his field ; which obliga- 
tion was amply recompensed by the gain he had made in show- 
ing me through half the kingdom, and the price he had now 
sold me for ; that the life I had since led was laborious enough 
to kill an animal of ten times my strength ; that my health was 
much impaired by the continual drudgery of entertaining the 
rabble every hour of the day ; and that if my master had not 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG 


79 


thought my life in danger, her majesty would not have got so 
cheap a bargain. But as I was out of all fear of being ill- 
treated, under the protection of so great and good an empress, 
the ornament of nature, the darling of the world, the delight of 
her subjects ; so, I hoped my late master’s apprehensions would 
appear to be groundless ; for I already found my spirits to re- 
vive by the influence of her most august presence. 

This was the sum of my speech, delivered with great hesita- 
tion. The latter part was altogether framed in the style 
peculiar to that people, whereof I learned some phrases from 
Glumdalclitch while she was carrying me to court. 

The queen, giving great allowance for my defectiveness in 
speaking, was, however, surprised at so much good sense 
in so diminutive an animal. She took me in her own 
hands, and carried me to the king, who was then retired to his 
cabinet.® His majesty, a prince of much gravity and austere 
countenance, not well observing my shape at first view, asked 
the queen, after a cold manner, how long it was since she grew 
fond of a splacmick 1 for such, it seems, he took me to be, as I 
lay upon my breast in her majesty’s right hand. But this prin- 
cess, who hath an infinite deal of wit and humor, set me gently 
on my feet upon the writing desk, and commanded me to give 
his majesty an account of myself, which I did in a very few 
words ; and Glumdalclitch, who attended at the cabinet door, 
and could not endure I should be out of her sight, being ad- 
mitted, confirmed all that had passed from my arrival at her 
father’s house. 

The king, although he is as learned a person as any in his 
dominions, had been educated in the study of philosophy, and 
particularly mathematics ; yet, when he observed my shape 
exactly, and saw me walk erect, before I began to speak, con- 
ceived I might be a piece of clock-work contrived by some in- 
genious artist. But when he heard my voice, and found what 
I said to be regular and rational, he could not conceal his as- 


80 


GULLIVER^ S TRAVELS 


tonishment. He was by no means satisfied with the relation I 
gave him of the manner I came into his kingdom, but thought 
it a story concerted between Glumdal ditch and her father, who 
had taught me a set of words, to make me sell at a higher 
price. Upon this imagination, he put several other questions 
to me, and still received rational answers, no otherwise defective 
than l3y a foreign accent, and an imperfect knowledge in the 
language, with some rustic phrases which I had learned at the 
farmer’s house, and did not suit the polite style of a court. 

His majesty sent for three great scholars. These gentlemen, 
after they had awhile examined my shape with much nicety, 
were of different opinions concerning me. They all agreed that 
I was not framed with a capacity of preserving my life, either 
by swiftness, or climbing of trees, or digging holes in the earth. 
They observed by my teeth, which they viewed with great exact- 
ness, that I was a carnivorous animal ; yet, most quadrupeds 
being an 'fVermatch for me, and field-mice, with some others, 
too nimble, they could not imagine how I should be able to 
support myself, unless I fed upon snails and insects, which they 
offered, by many learned arguments, to evince tliat I could not 
possibly do. They observed my limbs to be perfect and finished; 
and that I had lived several years, as it was manifest from my 
beard, the stumps whereof they plainly discovered through a 
magnifying glass. They would not concede me to be a dwarf, 
because my littleness was beyond all degrees of comparison ; for 
the queen’s favorite dwarf, the smallest ever known in that 
kingdom, was nearly thirty feet high. After much debate, 
they concluded, unanimously, that I w^as only lusus naturce° 

After this decisive conclusion, I entreated to be heard a word 
or two. I applied myself to the king, and assured his majesty 
that I came from a country which abounded with several mill- 
ions of both sexes, and of my own stature ; where the animals, 
trees, and houses were all in proportion, and where, by conse- 
quence, I might be as able to defend myself, and to find suste- 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG 


81 


nance as any of his majesty’s subjects could do here; which I 
took for a full answer to those gentlemen’s arguments. To this 
they only replied with a smile of contempt, saying that the 
farmer had instructed me very well in my lesson. The king, 
who had a much better understanding, dismissing his learned 
men, sent for the farmer, who, by good fortune, was not yet 
gone out of town. Having, therefore, first examined him pri- 
vately, and then confronted him with me and the young girl, 
his majesty began to think that wdiat we told him might pos- 
sibly be true. He desired the queen to order that particular 
care should be taken of me. A convenient apartment was pro- 
vided for Glumdalclitch at court. She had a governess ap- 
pointed to take care of her education, a maid to dress her, and 
two other servants for menial offices ; but the care of me was 
wholly appropriated to herself. 

The queen commanded her own cabinet-maker to contrive a 
box, that might serve me for a bedchamber, after the model 
that Glumdalclitch and I should agree upon. This man was a 
most ingenious artisan, and according to my directions, in three 
weeks, finished for me a wooden chamber, sixteen feet square, 
and twelve high, with sash-windows, a door, and two closets. 
The board that made the ceiling was to be lifted up and down 
by two hinges, to put in a bed, ready furnished by her majesty’s 
upholsterer, which Glumdalclitch took out every day to air, 
made it with her own hands, and letting it down at night, 
locked up the roof over me. A skilled workman, who was fa- 
mous for little curiosities, undertook to make me two chairs, 
with backs and frames, of a substance not unlike ivory, and 
two tables, with a bureau to put my things in. The room was 
quilted on all sides, as well as the fioor and the ceiling, to pre- 
vent any accident from the carelessness of those who carried 
me, and to break the force of a jolt when I went in a coach. 
I desired a lock for my door, to prevent rats and mice from 
coming in. The smith, after several attempts, made the small- 


G 


82 


GULLIVER^ S TRAVELS 


est that ever was seen among them. I managed to keep the 
key in a pocket of my own, fearing Grlumdalclitch might lose it. 
The queen likewise ordered the thinnest silks that could be 
gotten, to make me clothes, not much thicker than an English 
blanket, very cumbersome till I was accustomed to them. 
They were after the fashion of the kingdom, partly resembling 
the Persian, and partly the Chinese, and are a very grave and 
decent costume. 

The queen became so fond of my company, that she could 
not dine without me. I had a table placed upon the same at 
which her majesty ate, just at her left elbow, and a chair to sit 
on. Glumdalclitch stood upon a stool on the floor near my 
table, to assist and take care of me. I had an entire set of 
silver dishes and plates, and other necessaries, which, in pro- 
portion to those of the queen, were not much bigger than what 
I have seen of the same kind in a London toy-shop, for the 
furniture of a doll-house. These my little nurse kept in her 
pocket in a silver box, and gave me at meals as I wanted them, 
always cleaning them herself. 

No person dined with the queen but the two princesses 
royal, the elder sixteen years old, and the younger at that time 
thirteen and a month. Her majesty used to put a bit of meat 
upon one of my dishes, out of which I carved for myself. Her 
diversion was to see me eat ; for the queen (who had, indeed, 
but a weak stomach) took up, at one mouthful, as much as a 
dozen English farmers could eat at a meal ; which to me was, 
for some time, a very nauseous sight. She would craunch the 
wing of a lark, bones and all, between her teeth, although it 
were nine times as large as that of a full-grown turkey ; and 
put a bit of bread in her mouth as big as two twelve-penny 
loaves. She drank out of a golden cup, above a hogshead at a 
draught. Her knives were twice as large as a scythe, set 
straight upon the handle. The spoons, forks, and other 
instruments, were all in the same proportion. I remember 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG 


83 


when Glumdalelitch carried me, out of curiosity, to see some of 
the tables at court, where ten or a dozen of those enormous 
knives and forks were lifted up together, I thought I had never 
till then beheld so terrible a sight. 

It is the custom, that every Wednesday (which, as I have 
before observed, was their Sabbath) the king and queen, with 
the royal children, dine together in the apartment of his 
majesty, to whom I was now become a great favorite ; and at 
these times my little chair and table were placed at his left 
hand, before one of the salt-cellars. This prince took a pleas- 
ure in conversing with me, inquiring into the manners, religion, 
laws, government, and learning of Europe; wherein I gave 
him the best account I was able. His apprehension was so 
clear, and his judgment so exact, that he made very wise 
reflections and observations upon all I said. But, I confess, 
that, after I had been a little too copious in talking of my own 
beloved country, of our trade, and wars by sea and land, of our 
schisms in religion, and parties in the state, the prejudices of 
his education prevailed so far that he could not forbear taking 
me up in his right hand, and, stroking me gently with the 
other, after a hearty fit of laughing, asked me, whether I were 
a Whig or Tory? Then turning to his first minister, who 
waited behind him with a white staff, near as tall as the main- 
mast of one of our ships, he observed, how contemptible a 
thing was human grandeur, which could be mimicked by such 
diminutive insects as I ; “ and yet,” said he, “ I dare engage 
these creatures have their titles and distinctions of honor ; 
they contrive little nests and burrows, that they call houses and 
cities ; they make a figure in dress and equipage ; they love, 
they fight, they dispute, they cheat, they betray ! ” And thus 
he continued, while my color came and went with indignation, 
to hear our noble country, the mistress of arts and arms, the 
seat of virtue, piety, honor, and truth, the pride and envy of 
the 'world, so contemptuously treated. 


84 


GULLIVER^ S TRAVELS 


But as I was not in a condition to resent injuries, so upon 
mature thoughts I began to doubt whether I was injured or 
not. For, after having been accustomed several months to the 
sight and converse of this people, and observed every object 
upon which I cast mine eyes to be of proportionable magnitude, 
the horror I had first conceived from their bulk and aspect was 
so far worn off, that, if 1 had then beheld a company of English 
lords and ladies in their finery, acting their several parts in the 
most courtly manner of strutting, and bowing, and prating ; I 
should have been strongly tempted to laugh as much at them 
as the king and his grandees did at me. Neither, indeed, could 
I forbear smiling at myself, when the queen used to place me 
upon her hand toward a looking-glass, by which both our 
persons appeared before me in full view together ; and there 
could be nothing more ridiculous than the comparison ; so that 
I really began to imagine myself dwindled many degrees below 
my usual size. 

Nothing angered and mortified me so much as the queen’s 
dwarf ; who being of the lowest stature that was ever in that 
country (for I verily think he was not full thirty feet high) 
became so insolent at seeing a creature so much beneath him, 
that he would always affect to swagger and look big as he 
passed by me in the queen’s antechamber, while I was standing 
on some table, talking with the lords or ladies of the court, 
and he seldom failed of a smart word or two upon my littleness; 
against which I could only revenge myself by calling him 
brother, challenging him to wrestle, and such repartees as are 
usual in the mouths of court pages. One day, at dinner, this 
malicious little cub was so nettled with something I had said 
to him, that, raising himself upon the frame of her majesty’s 
chair, he took me up by the middle, as I was sitting down, not 
thinking any harm, and let me drop into a large silver bowl of 
cream, and then ran away as fast as he could. 

I fell over bead and ears, and, if I had not been a good 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG 


85 


swimmer, it might have gone very hard with me ; for Glumdal- 
clitch in that instant happened to be at the other end of the 
room, and the queen was in such a fright that she had not 
presence of mind to assist me. But my little nurse ran to my 
relief, and took me out, after I had swallowed above a quart of 
cream. I was put to bed. However, I received no other 
damage than the loss of a suit of clothes, which was utterly 
spoiled. The dwarf was soundly whipped, and as a further 
punishment, forced to drink up the bowl of cream into which 
he had thrown me; neither was he ever restored to favor. 
Soon afterward the queen bestowed him on a lady of higli quality ; 
so that I saw him no more, to my very great satisfaction ; 
for I could not tell to what extremity such a malicious urchin 
might have carried his resentment. 

He had before served me a scurvy trick, which set the queen 
a-laughing, although at the same time she was heartily vexed, 
and would have immediately discharged him if I had not been 
so generous as to intercede. Her m^ijesty had taken a marrow- 
bone upon her plate, and, after knocking out the marrow, 
placed the bone again in the dish erect. The dwarf, watching 
his opportunity while Glumdalclitch was gone to the sideboard, 
mounted the stool she stood on to take care of me at meals, 
took me up in both hands, and, squeezing my legs together, 
wedged me into the marrow-bone above my waist, where I 
stuck for some time, and made a very ridiculous figure. I be- 
lieve it was near a minute before any one knew what was be- 
come of me ; for I thought it below me to cry out. 

I was frequently rallied by the queen upon account of my 
fearfulness ; and she used to ask me whether the people of my 
country were as great cowards as myself? The occasion was 
this ; The kingdom is much pestered with flies in summer ; 
and these odious insects, each of them as big as a lark, hardly 
gave me any rest while I sat at dinner, with their continual 
humming and buzzing about my ears. They would some- 


86 


GULLIVER^ S TRAVELS 


times alight upon my victuals, and sometimes they would fix 
upon my nose or forehead, where they stung me to the quick, 
smelling very offensively ; and I could easily trace that viscous 
matter, which, our naturalists tell us, enables those creatures 
to walk with their feet upward on a ceiling. I had much ado 
to defend myself against these detestable animals, and could 
not forbear starting when they came on my face. It was the 
common practice of the dwarf to catch a number of these in- 
sects in his hand, as schoolboys do among us, and let them out 
suddenly under my nose, on purpose to frighten me and divert 
the queen. My remedy was to cut them in pieces with my 
knife, as they flew in the air, wherein my dexterity was much 
admired. 

I remember, one morning, Glumdalclitch had set me in my 
box upon a window-sill, as she usually did on fair days, to give 
me air (for I durst not venture to let the box be hung on a nail 
out of the window, as we do with cages in England). I sat 
down at my table to eat a piece of sweet cake for my breakfast, 
and above twenty wasps, allured by the smell, came flying into 
my room, humming louder than the drones of as many bagpipes. 
Some of them seized my cake, and carried it piecemeal away ; 
others flew about my head and face, confounding me with the 
noise, and putting me in the utmost terror of their stings. 
However, I had the courage to rise and draw my hanger, and 
attack them in the air. I despatched four of them, but the 
rest got away, and I presently shut my window. These crea- 
tures were as large as partridges ; I took out their stings, found 
them an inch and a half long, and as sharp as needles. I care- 
fully preserved them all; and have since shown them, with 
some other curiosities, in several parts of Europe. 


CHAPTER IV 


The Country described — A proposal for correcting modern Maps — 
The King’s Palace and some account of the Metropolis — The 
Author’s way of travelling — The chief Temple described. 

I NOW intend to give the reader a short description of this 
country, as far as I travelled in it, which was not above two 
thousand miles round Lorbrulgrud the metropolis ; for the 
queen, whom I always attended, never went further when she 
accompanied the king in his journeys of state. The whole ex- 
tent of this prince’s dominions reacheth about six thousand 
miles in length, and from three to five thousand in breadth : 
whence, I cannot but conclude that our geographers are in a 
great error by supposing nothing but sea between Japan and 
California ; and therefore they ought to correct their maps and 
charts, by joining this vast tract of land to the northwest parts 
of America, wherein I shall be ready to lend them my assistance. 

The kingdom is a peninsula, terminated to the northeast by 
a ridge of mountains thirty miles high, which are altogether 
impassable, by reason of the volcanoes upon the tops : neither 
do the most learned know what sort of mortals inhabit beyond 
those mountains, or whether there be any inhabitants at all. 
On the three other sides it is bounded by the ocean. There is 
not one seaport in the whole kingdom : and those parts of the 
coasts into which the rivers issue are so full of pointed rocks, 
and the sea generally so rough, that there is no venturing with 
their boats ; so that these people are wholly excluded from any 
commerce with the rest of the world. But the large rivers are 

87 


88 


G ULLIVEli’S TEA VE L S 


full of vessels and abound with excellent fish ; for they seldom 
get any from the sea, because the sea-fish are of the same size 
with those in Europe, and consequently not worth catching; 
whereby it is manifest that nature, in the production of plants 
and animals of so extraorditiary a bulk, is wholly confined to 
this continent, of which I leave the reasons to be determined 
by philosophers. However, now and then, they take a whale 
that happens to be dashed against the rocks, which the com- 
mon people feed on heartily. These whales I have known so 
large that a man could hardly carry one upon his shoulders ; 
and sometimes, for curiosity, they are brought in hampers to 
Lorbrulgrud. I saw one of them in a dish at the king’s table, 
which passed for a rarity, but I did not observe he was fond of 
it ; for I think, indeed, the bigness disgusted him, although I 
have seen one somewhat larger in Greenland. 

The country is well inhabited, for it contains fifty-one cities, 
near an hundred walled towns, and a great number of villages. 
To satisfy my curious reader, it may be sufficient to describe 
Lorbrulgrud. This city contains above eighty thousand 
houses, and about six hundred thousand inhabitants. It is in 
length three glomglungs (which make about fifty-four English 
miles) and two and a half in breadth ; as I measured it myself 
in the royal map, made by the king’s order, which was laid on 
the ground on purpose for me, and extended a hundred feet. I 
paced the diameter and circumference several times barefoot, 
and, computing by the scale, measured it pretty exactly. 

The king’s palace is no regular edifice, but a heap of build- 
ings, about seven miles round. The chief rooms are generally 
two hundred and forty feet high, and broad and long in propor- 
tion. A coach was allowed to Glumdalclitch and me, wherein 
her governess frequently took her out to see the town, or go 
among the shops ; and I was always of the party, carried in my 
box ; although the girl, at my own desire, would often take me 
out and hold me in her hand, that I might more conveniently 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG 


89 


view the houses and the people, as we passed along the streets. 
One day the governess ordered our coachman to stop at sev- 
eral shops, where the beggars, watching their opportunity, 
crowded to the sides of the coach, and gave me the most hor- 
rible spectacles that ever an English eye beheld. There were 
lice cri},wling on their clothes. I could see distinctly the limbs 
of these vermin with my naked eye, much better than those of 
an European louse through a microscope, and their snouts, with 
which they rooted like swine. 

Besides the large box in which I was usually carried, the 
queen ordered a smaller one to be made for me, about twelve 
feet square, and ten high, for the convenience of travelling : 
because the other was somewhat too large for Glumdalclitch’s 
lap, and cumbersome in the coach. It was made by the same 
workman, whom I directed in the whole contrivance. This 
travelling closet was an exact square with a window in the 
middle of three of the squares, and each window was latticed 
with iron wire on the outside, to prevent accidents in long 
journeys. On the fourth side, which had no window, two 
strong staples were fixed, through which the person that 
carried me, when I had a mind to be on horseback, put a 
leathern belt, and buckled it about his waist. This was always 
the office of some grave, trusty servant in whom I could confide, 
whether I attended the king and queen in their progresses, 
or were disposed to see the gardens, or pay a visit to some 
great lady or minister of state in the court, for I soon began 
to be known and esteemed among the greatest ofiicers ; I sup- 
pose more upon account of their majesties’ favor than any 
merit of my own. In journeys, when I was weary of the 
coach, a servant on horseback would buckle on my box, and 
place it upon a cushion before him; and there I had a full 
prospect of the country on three sides, from my three windows. 
I had, in this closet, a bed, and a hammock hung from the 
ceiling, two chairs and a table, neatly screwed to the floor, to 


90 


GULLlVER^S TRAVELS 


prevent being tossed about by the agitation of the horse or 
the coach. And having been long used to sea voyages, those 
motions, although sometimes very violent, did not much dis- 
compose me. 

Whenever I had a mind to see the town, it was always in 
my travelling closet ; which Glumdalclitch held in her lap in 
a kind of open sedan, after the fashion of the country, borne 
by four men, and attended by two others in the queen’s livery. 
The people, who had often heard of me, v/ere very curious to 
crowd about the sedan, and the girl was complaisant enough 
to make the bearers stop, and to take me in her hand, that I 
might be more conveniently seen. 

I was very desirous to see the chief temple, and particularly 
the tower belonging to it, which is reckoned the highest in the 
kingdom. Accordingly one day my nurse carried me thither, 
but I may truly say I came back disappointed ; for the height 
is not above three thousand feet, reckoning from the ground 
to the highest pinnacle top ; which, allowing for the difference 
between the size of those people and us in Europe, is no great 
matter for admiration, nor at all equal in proportion (if I 
rightly remember) to Salisbury steeple.® But, not to detract 
from a nation, to which, during my life, I shall acknowledge 
myself extremely obliged, it must be allowed, that whatever 
this famous tower wants in height, is amply made up in beauty 
and strength. For the walls are nearly a hundred feet thick, 
built of hewn stone, whereof each is about forty feet square, 
and adorned on all sides with statues of gods and emperors, 
cut in marble larger than life, placed in their several 
niches. I measured a little finger which had fallen down from 
one of these statues, and lay unperceived among some rubbish, 
and found it exactly four feet and an inch in length. Glum- 
dalclitch wrapped it up in a handkerchief, and carried it home 
in her pocket, to keep among other trinkets, of which tlie girl 
was very fond, as children at her age usually are. 


A VOYAGE TO BROHDINGNAG 


91 


The king’s kitchen is indeed a noble building, vaulted at top, 
and about six hundred feet high. The great oven is not so 
wide, by ten paces, as the cupola at St. Paul’s cathedral® : for 
I measured the latter on purpose, after my return.* But if I 
should describe the kitchen-grate, the prodigious pots and 
kettles, the joints of meat turning on the spits, with many 
other particulars, perhaps I should be hardly believed ; at least 
a severe critic would be apt to think I enlarged a little, as trav- 
ellers are often suspected to do. To avoid which censure, I 
fear I have run too much into the other extreme ; and that, if 
this treatise should happen to be translated into the language 
of Brobdingnag (which is the general name of that kingdom) 
and transmitted thither, the king and his people would have 
reason to complain that I had done them an injury, by a false 
and diminutive representation. 

His majesty seldom keeps above six hundred horses in his 
stables ; they are generally from fifty-four to sixty feet high. 
But when he goes abroad on solemn days, he is attended, for 
state, by a militia guard of five hundred horse, which indeed I 
thought was the most splendid sight that could be ever beheld, 
till I saw part of his army in battle array, whereof I shall 
find another occasion to speak. 


CHAPTER V 


Several Adventures that happened to the Author — The Author 
shows his skill in Navigation. 

I SHOULD have lived happy enough in that country if my 
littleness had not exposed me to several ridiculous and trouble- 
some accidents ; some of which I shall venture to relate. Glum- 
dalclitch often carried me into the gardens of the court in my 
smaller box, and would sometimes take me out of it, and hold 
me in her hand, or set me down to walk. I remember, before 
the dwarf left the queen, he followed us one day into those 
gardens, and my nurse having set me down, he and I being 
close together, near some dwarf apple-trees, I must needs show 
my wit, by a silly allusion comparing him and. the trees. 
Whereupon, the malicious rogue, watching his opportunity 
when I was Avalking under one of them, shook it directly over 
my head, by which a dozen apples, each of them nearly as large 
as a barrel, came tumbling about my ears. One of them hit 
me on the back as I chanced to stoop, and knocked me down 
flat on my face ; but I received no other hurt, and the dwarf 
was pardoned at my desire, because I had given the provocation. 

Another day Glumdalclitch left me on a smooth grassplot to 
divert myself, while she walked at some distance with her 
governess. In the meantime there suddenly fell such a violent 
shower of hail that I was immediately, by the force of it, struck 
to the ground ; and when I was down the hailstones gave me 
cruel bangs all over tlie body. However, I made, a shift to 
creep on all fours, and shelter myself, by lying flat on my face, 

92 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDI^^GNAG 93 

on the lee-side of a border of thyme ; but so bruised from head 
to foot that I could not go abroad in ten days. 

A more dangerous accident happened to me in the same 
garden. My little nurse, believing she had put me in a secure 
place, and having left my box at home, to avoid the trouble of 
carrying it, went to another part of the gardens, with her govern- 
ess and some ladies of her acquaintance. While she was ab- 
sent, and out of hearing, a small white spaniel, belonging to one 
of the chief gardeners, got by accident into the garden and 
happened to range near the place where I lay. The dog follow- 
ing the scent came directly up, and taking me in his mouth, ran 
to his master, wagging his tail, and set me gently on the ground. 
By good fortune he had been so well taught that I was carried 
between his teetli without the least hurt, or even tearing my 
clothes. But the poor gardener, who knew me well, and had a 
great kindness for me, was in a terrible fright ; he gently took 
me up in both liis hands, and asked me liow I did ? but I was 
so amazed and out of breath that I could not speak a word. In 
a few minutes I came to myself, and he carried me safe to my 
little nurse, who by this time had returned to the place where 
she left me, and was in cruel agonies when I did ‘not appear, 
nor answer when she called. She severely reprimanded the 
gardener on account of his dog. But the thing was hushed up, 
and never known at court, for the girl was afraid of the queen’s 
anger ; and truly, as to myself, I thought it would not be for 
my reputation that such a story should go about. 

This accident absolutely determined Glumdalclitch never to 
trust me abroad for the future out of her sight. I had been 
long afraid of this resolution, and therefore concealed from her 
some little unlucky adventures that happened in those times 
when I was left by myself. Once a hawk hovering over the 
garden made a stoop at me, and if I had not resolutely drawn 
my hanger, and run under a thick trellis, he would have cer- 
tainly carried me away in his talons. Another time, walking 


94 


GULLIVEE’S TRAVELS 


to the top of a fresh molehill, I fell to my neck in the hole 
through which that animal had cast up the earth, and had to 
invent an excuse for spoiling my clothes. I likewise broke my 
right shin against the shell of a snail, which I happened to 
stumble over, as I was walking alone. 

I cannot tell whether I was more pleased or mortified to 
observe, in those solitary walks, that the smaller birds did not 
appear to be at all afraid of me, but would hop about within 
a yard distance, looking for worms and other food, with as 
much inditference and security as if no creature at all were near 
them. I remember, a thrush had the confidence to snatch out 
of my hand, with his bill, a piece of cake that Glumdalclitch 
had just given me for my breakfast. When I attempted to 
catch any of these birds they would boldly turn against me, 
endeavoring to peck my fingers, which I durst not venture 
within their reach; and then they would turn back uncon- 
cerned, to hunt for worms or snails, as they did before. But 
one day, I took a thick cudgel, and threw it with all my 
strength so luckily at a linnet that I knocked him down, and 
seizing him Jby the neck with both my hands, ran with him in 
triumph to my nurse. However, the bird, wlio had only been 
stunned, recovering himself, gave me so many boxes with Ids 
wings on both sides of my head and body, though I held him 
at arm’s length, and was out of the reach of his claws, that 
I let him go. This linnet, as near as I can remember, seemed 
to be somewhat larger than an English swan. 

The queen, who often used to hear me talk of my sea voy- 
ages, and took all occasions to divert me when I was melan- 
choly, asked me whether I understood how to handle a sail or 
an oar, and whether a little exercise of rowing might not be 
convenient for my health 1 I answered that I understood both 
very well ; for although my proper employment had been to 
be surgeon or doctor to the ship, yet often upon a pinch I was 
forced to work like a common mariner. But I could not see 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG 


95 


how this could be done in their country, where the smallest 
wherry was equal to a first-rate man-of-war among us ; and 
such a boat as I could manage would never live in any of their 
rivers. Her majesty said, if I would draw a plan of a boat, 
her own joiner should make it, and she would provide a place 
for me to sail in. The fellow was an ingenious workman, and 
by my instructions, finished a pleasure-boat, with all its tack- 
ling, able conveniently to hold eight Europeans. 

When it was finished the queen was so delighted that she ran 
with it in her lap to the king, who ordered it to be put into a 
cistern full of water, with me in it, by way of trial, where I 
could not manage my two sculls, or little oars, for want of 
room. Then the queen ordered the joiner to make a wooden 
trough three hundred feet long, fifty broad, and eight deep ; 
which, being well pitched, to prevent leaking, was placed on 
the floor, along the wall, in an outer room of the palace. It 
had a faucet near the bottom to let out the water, when it 
began to grow stale ; and two servants could easily fill it in 
half an hour. Here I often used to row for my own diver- 
sion, as well as that of the queen and her ladies, who 
thought themselves well entertained with my skill and agility. 
Sometimes I would put up my sail, and then my business 
was only to steer, while the ladies gave me a gale with their 
fans ; and, when they were weary, some of their pages would 
blow my sail forward with their breath, while I showed my 
art by steering starboard or larboard as I pleased. When I 
had done, Glumd[dclitch always carried back my boat into her 
closet, and hung it on a nail to dry. 

In this exercise I once met an accident which had like to have 
cost me my life ; for, one of the pages having put my boat into 
the trough, the governess who attended Glumdalclitch very ofii- 
ciously lifted me up, to place me in the boat ; but I happened 
to slip through her fingers, and should have infallibly fallen 
down forty feet, on the floor, if, by the luckiest chance in the 


96 


G ULLI VER'S TRA VELS 


world, I had not been stopped by a lai-ge pin that stuck in the 
good gentlewoman’s stomacher. The head of the pin passed 
between my shirt and the waistband of my breeches, and thus 
I was held in the air till Glumdalclitch ran to my relief. 

Another time, one of the servants, whose office it was to fill 
my trough every third day with fresh water, was so careless as 
to let a huge frog slip out of his pail. The frog lay concealed 
till I was put into my boat, but then, seeing a resting-place, 
climbed up, and made it lean so much on one side that I was 
forced to balance it with all my weight on the other, to prevent 
overturning. When the frog was got in it hopped at once half 
the length of the boat ; and then over my head, backward and 
forward, daubing my face and clothes with its odious slime. 
The largeness of its features made it appear the most deformed 
animal that can be conceived. How^ever, I desired Glumdalclitch 
to let me deal with it alone. I banged it a good while with one 
of my sculls, and at last forced it to leap out of the boat. 

But the greatest danger I ever underwent in that kingdom 
was from a monkey, who belonged to one of the clerks of the 
kitchen. Glumdalclitch had locked me up in her room, wlnle 
she went somewhere upon business or a visit. The weather 
being very warm, the room window was left open, as well as 
the windows and the door of my bigger box, in which I usually 
lived, because of its largeness and conveniency. As I sat 
quietly meditating at my table I heard something bounce in at 
the window of the room, and skip about from one side to the 
other. Although I was much alarmed, I ventured to look out ; 
and then I saw this frolicsome animal frisking and leaping up. 
and down, till at last he came to my box, which he seemed to 
view wdth great pleasure and curiosity, peeping in at the door 
and every window. 

I retreated to the further corner of my room or box ; but the 
monkey, looking in at every side, put me into such a fright that 
T wanted presence of mind to conceal myself under the bed, as 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG 


97 


I might easily have done. After some time spent in peeping, 
grinning, ancl cliattering, he at last espied me; and, reaching 
one of his paws in at the door, although I often shifted place 
to avoid him, he at length caught hold of the skirt of my coat 
(which, being made of that country cloth, was very thick and 
strong) and dragged me out. He took me up in his right fore- 
foot ; and when I offered to struggle he squeezed me so hard 
that I thought it more prudent to submit. I have good reason 
to believe that he took me for a young one of his own species, 
by his often stroking my face very gently with his other paw. 

In these diversions he was interrupted by a noise at the door 
of the room, as if somebody wei-e opening it, whereupon he sud- 
denly leaped up to the window at which he had come in, and 
thence to the conduits and gutters, walking upon three legs, and 
holding me with the fourth, till lie clambered up to a roof that 
was next to ours. I heard Glumdalclitch give a shriek at the 
moment he was carrying me out. The poor girl was almost 
distracted. That quarter of the palace was all in an uproar. 
The servants ran for ladders. The monkey was seen by hun- 
dreds in the court sitting upon the ridge of a building, holding 
me like a baby in one of his forepaws, and feeding me with the 
other, by cramming into my mouth some victuals he had 
squeezed out of the pouch on one side of his jaws,° and pat- 
ting me when I would not eat ; whereat the rabble below could 
not forbear laughing; neither do I think they justly ought to 
be blamed, for without question the sight was ridiculous enough 
to everybody but myself. . Some of the people threw up stones, 
hoping to drive the monkey down ; but this was strictly for- 
bidden, or else, very probably, my brains had been dashed out. 

The ladders were now applied, and mounted by several men, 
which the monkey observing, and finding himself almost encom- 
passed, not being able to make speed enough with his three 
legs, let me drop on a ridge tile, and made his escape. Here I 
sat for some time, three hundred yards from the ground, ex- 


H 


98 


GULLIVER'S TRAVELS 


pecting every moment to be blown down by the wind, or to fail 
by my own giddiness, and come tumbling over and over from 
the ridge to the eaves ; but an honest lad, one of my nurse’s 
footmen, climbed up, and, putting me into his breeches pocket, 
brought me down safe. 

I was almost choked with the filthy stuff the monkey had 
crammed down my throat; but presently I fell a-vomiting, 
which gave me great relief. Yet I was so weak and bruised 
•in the sides by the squeezes given me by this odious animal 
that I was forced to keep my bed a fortnight. The king, 
queen, and all the court, sent every day to inquire after my 
health ; and her majesty made me several visits during my 
sickness. The monkey was killed, and an order made that no 
such animal should be kept about the palace. 

When I attended the king after my recovery, to return him 
thanks for his favors, he was pleased to rally me a good deal 
upon this adventure. He asked me what my thoughts and 
speculations weije while I lay in the monkey’s paw ; how I 
liked the victuals he gave me; his manner of feeding; and 
whether the fresh air on the roof had sharpened my stomach ? 
He desired to know what I would have done upon such an 
occasion in my own country. 

I told his majesty that in Europe we had no monkeys, except 
such as were brought for curiosities from other places, and so 
small that I could deal with a dozen of them together, if they 
presumed to attack me. And as for that monstrous animal 
with whom I was so lately engaged (it was indeed as large as 
an elephant) if my fears had suftered me to think so far as to 
make use of my hanger (looking fiercely, and clapping my hand 
upon the hilt as I spoke) when he poked his paw into my 
chamber, perhaps I should have given him such a wound as 
would have made him glad to withdraw it with more haste 
than he put it in. This I delivered in a firm tone, like a 
person who was jealous lest his courage should be called in 


A VOYAGE TO BliOBDINGNAG 


99 


question. However, my speech produced nothing else besides 
loud laughter, which all the respect due to his majesty from 
those about him could not make them contain. This made me 
reflect how vain an attempt it is for a man to endeavor doing 
himself honor among those, who are out of all degree of equality 
or comparison with him. 


tafC. 


CHAPTER VI 


Several contrivances of the Author to please the King and Queen — 
He shows his skill in Music — The King inquires into the state 
of England, wdiich the Author relates to him — The King’s 
observations thereon. 

I USED to attend the king’s levee once or twice a week, and 
had often seen him under the barber’s hand, which, indeed, was 
at first very terrible to behold ; for the razor was almost twice 
as long as an ordinary scythe. His majesty, according to the 
custom of the country, was only shaved twice a week. I once 
prevailed on tli« |l)arber to give me some of the suds or lather, 
out of which I'pi(^ved forty or fifty of the strongest stumps of 
hair. I then took a piece of fine wood, and cut it like the 
back of a comb, making holes in it at equal distance with as 
small a needle as I could get from Glumdalclitch. I fixed in 
the stumps scraping and sloping them with my knife toward 
the points, so that I made a very tolerable comb ; which was a 
seasonable supply, my own being so much broken in the teeth 
that it was almost useless : neither did I know any workman in 
that country so nice and exact as would undertake to make me 
another. 

And this puts me in mind of an amusement, wherein I spent 
many of my leisure hours. I desired the queen’s woman to 
save for me the combings of her majesty’s hair, whereof in time 
I got a good quantity; and consulting with my friend the 
cabinet maker, who had received orders to do little jobs for me, 
I directed him to make two chair-frames, no larger than those I 

100 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG 101 

had in my box, and then to bore little holes with a fine awl 
round those parts where I designed the backs and seats. 
J Through these holes I wmve the strongest hairs I could pick 
I out, just after the manner, of cane chairs in England. When 
4‘ they were finished I made a present of them to her majesty, 
I who kept them in her cabinet, and used to show them for curi- 
i osities, as indeed they were the wonder of every one that 
» beheld them. Tiie queen would have had me sit upon one of 
these chairs, but I absolutely refused to obey her, protesting I 
would rather die a thousand deaths than sit on those precious 
hairs that once adorned her majesty’s head. Of these hairs (as 
I had always a mechanical genius) I likewise made a neat little 
^ purse, about five feet long, which I gave to Glumdalclitch by 
' the queen’s consent. To say the truth, it was more for show 
than use, being not of strength to bear the weight of the 
> larger coins, and therefore she kept nothing in it but some 
little toys that girls are fond of. 

The king, who delighted in music, had frequent concerts at 
court, to which I was sometimes carried, and set in my box on 
a table to hear them : but the noise was so great that I could 
hardly distinguish the tunes. I am confident that all the drums 
^ and trumpets of a royal army, beating and sounding together 
just at your ears, could not equal it. My practice was to have 
my box removed from the places where the performers sat as 
) fiir as I could, then to shut the doors and windows of it, and 
draw the window^-curtains ; after which I found their music 
not disagreeable. 

I had learned in my youth to play a little upon the spinet.® 
Glumdalclitch kept one in her chamber, and a master attended 
t twice a week to teach her. I call it a spinet, because it some- 
what resembled that instrument, and w^as played upon in the 
same manner. A fancy came into my head that I would enter- 
tain the king and queen with an English tune upon this instru- 
ment. But this appeared extremely difficult : for tlie spinet 



102 


GULLIVER'S TRAVELS 


was nearly sixty feet long, each key being almost a foot wide, so 
that with my arms extended I could not reach to above five 
keys, and to press them down required a good smart stroke 
with my fist, which would be too great a labor, and to no pur- 
pose. The method I contrived was this : I prepared two round 
sticks about the bigness of common cudgels ; they were thicker 
at one end than the other, and I covered the thicker ends with 
a piece of a mouse’s skin, that by rapping on them I might 
neither damage the tops of the keys, nor interrupt the sound. 
Before the spinet a bench was placed, about four feet below the 
keys, and I was put on the bench. I ran sidelong upon it, 
that way and this, as fast as I could, banging the proper keys 
with my two sticks, and made a shift to play a jig, to the great 
satisfaction of both their majesties ; but it was the most violent 
exercise I ever underwent ; and yet I could not strike above 
sixteen keys, nor consequently play the bass and treble together, 
as other artists do ; which was a great disadvantage to my 
performance. 

The king, who, as I before observed, was a prince of excellent 
understanding, would frequently order that I should be brought 
in my box, and set upon the table in his private apartment : 
he would then command me to bring one of my chairs out of 
the box, and sit down within three yards’ distance upon the top 
of the box, which brought me almost to a level with his face. 
In this manner I had several conversations with him. I one 
day took the freedom to tell his majesty that the contempt he 
discovered toward Europe, and the rest of the world, did not 
seem answerable' to those excellent qualities of mind that he 
was master of ; that reason did not extend itself with the bulk 
of the body. On the contrary, we observed in our country that 
the tallest persons were usually least provided with it ; that 
among other animals, bees and ants had the reputation of more 
industry, art, and sagacity, than many of the larger kinds ; and 
that, as inconsiderable as he took me to be, I hoped I might 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG 


103 


live to do his majesty some sigaal service. The king heard me 
with attention, and began to conceive a much better opinion of 
me than he had ever before. He desired I would give him as 
exact an account of the government of England as I possibly 
could; because, as fond as rulers commonly are of their own 
customs, he should be glad to hear of anything that might 
deserve imitation. 

I began by informing his majesty that our dominions con- 
sisted of two islands, which composed three mighty kingdoms, 
under one sovereign, besides our colonies in America. I dwelt 
long upon the fertility of our soil, and the excellence of our 
climate. I then spoke upon the constitution of an English 
parliament ; partly made up of an illustrious body, called the 
House of Peers ; persons of the noblest blood, and of the most 
ancient and ample patrimonies.^ To these were joined several 
holy persons, as part of that assembly, under the title of bishops ; 
w'hose peculiar business it is to take care of religion, and of those 
who instruct the people therein. 

That the other part of the parliament consisted of an as- 
sembly called the House of Commons, who were all principal 
gentlemen, freely picked and culled out by the people them- 
selves, for their great abilities and love of their country, to 
represent the wisdom of the whole nation. And that these two 
bodies made up the most august assembly in Europe; to 
whom, in conjunction with the prince, the whole legislation is 
committed. 

I then descended to the courts of justice; over which the 
judges, those venerable sages and interpreters of the law, pre- 
sided, for determining the disputed rights and properties of men, 
as well as for the punishment of vice and protection of inno- 
cence. I mentioned the prudent management of our treasury ; 
the valor and achievements of our forces, by sea and land. I 
did not omit even our sports and pastimes, or any other par- 
ticular which I thought might redound to the honor of my 


104 


GULLIVER^S TRAVELS 


country. And I finished all with a brief historical account of 
affairs and events in England for about a hundred years past. 

This conversation was not ended under five audiences, each 
of several hours ; and the king heard the wdiole with great at- 
tention, frequently taking notes of what I spoke. 

When I had put an end to these long discourses, his majesty, 
in a sixth audience, consulting his notes, proposed many doubts, 
queries, and objections upon every article. He asked wdiat 
methods were used to cultivate the minds and bodies of our 
young nobility, and in what kind of business they commonly 
spent the first and teachable part of their lives ? What share 
of knowledge these lords had in the laws of their country, and 
how they came by it, so as to enable them to decide the proper- 
ties of their fellow-subjects in the last resort ? Whether they 
were always so free from avarice, partialities, or want, that 
a bribe, or some other sinister view, could have no place among 
them 1 Whether those holy lords I spoke of were always pro- 
moted to that rank upon account of their knowledge in religious 
matters, and the sanctity of their lives ; had never been slavish 
chaplains to some nobleman, whose opinions they continued 
servilely to follow, after they were admitted into that assembly ? 

He then desired to know what arts were practised in electing 
those whom I called commoners ; whether a person, with a 
strong purse, might not influence the vulgar voters. He multi- 
plied his questions, and sifted me thoroughly. 

Upon what I said in relation to our courts of justice, his 
majesty desired to be satisfied in several points. He asked me 
what time we usually spent in determining between right and 
wrong, and what degree of expense 1 Whether advocates and 
orators had liberty to plead in causes manifestly known to be 
unjust, vexatious, or oppressive? He wondered to hear me 
talk of such expensive wars. That certainly we must be a 
quarrelsome people, or live among very bad neighbors. He 
asked what business we had out of our own islands, unless 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG 


105 


upon the score of trade, or treaty, or to* defend the coasts with 
our fleet ? 

He observed, that, among the diversions of our nobility and 
gentry, I had mentioned gaming. He desired to know at what 
age this entertainment was usually taken up, and when it was 
laid down ; how much of their time it employed ; whether it 
ever aflected their fortunes ; whether mean, vicious people, by 
their dexterity in that art, might not arrive at great riches, 
and sometimes keep our very nobles in dependence, as well as 
habituate them to vile companions ? 

He was perfectly astonished with the historical account I 
gave him of our affairs during the last century ; protesting, it 
was only a heap of conspiracies, rebellions, murders, massacres, 
revolutions, banishments — the very worst effects that avarice, 
faction, hypocrisy, cruelty, madness, hatred, envy, malice, or 
ambition could produce. 

His majesty, in another audience, was at the pains to re- 
capitulate the sum of all I had spoken ; compared the questions 
he made with the answers I had given ; then, taking me into 
his hands, and stroking me gently, delivered himself in these 
words, which I shall never forget, nor the manner he spoke 
them in : “ My little friend Grildrig, you have made a most ad- 
mirable panegyric upon your country. You have clearly proved 
that ignorance, idleness, and vice are the proper ingredients for 
qualifying a legislator. The laws are best explained, inter- 
preted, and applied, by those whose interests and abilities lie 
in perverting, confounding, and eluding them. As for yourself,” 
continued the king, “ who have spent the greatest part of your 
life in travelling, I am well disposed to hope you may hitherto 
have escaped many vices of your country. But, by what I have 
gathered from your own relation, and the answers I have with 
much pains extorted from you, I cannot but conclude the bulk of 
your natives to be the most pernicious race of little odious vermin 
that Nature ever suffered to crawl upon the surface of the earth.” 


CHAPTER VII 


The Author’s love of his Country — He makes a proposal of much 
advantage to the King, which is rejected — The King’s great 
ignorance in Politics — The Learning of that Country very 
imperfect and confined — Their Laws, and Military Affairs, 
and Parties in the State. 

/ 

It was in vain to discover my resentments ; and I was forced 
to rest with patience, while my noble and most beloved coun- 
try was so injuriously treated. I am as heartily sorry as any 
of my readers can possibly be that such an occasion was given ; 
but this prince happened to be so curious and inquisitive, that 
it could not consist either with gratitude or good manners to 
refuse giving him what satisfaction I was able. Yet this much 
I may be allowed to say in my own vindication, that I artfully 
eluded many of his questions, and gave to every point a more 
favorable turn, than the strictness of truth would allow. 

But great allowances should be given to a king, who lives 
wholly secluded from the rest of the world, and must, there- 
fore, be altogether unacquainted with the manners and cus- 
toms that most prevail in other nations ; the want of which 
knowledge will ever produce many prejudices, and a certain 
narrowness of thinking, from which we, and the politer coun- 
tries of Europe, are wholly exempted ; and it would be hard, 
indeed, if so remote a prince’s notions of virtue and vice were 
to be offered as a standard for all mankind. 

To further show the miserable effects of a confined education, 
I shall here insert a passage that will hardly obtain belief In 

106 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG 


107 


hopes to ingratiate myself further into his majesty’s favor, I 
told him of an invention, discovered between three and four 
hundred years ago, to make a certain powder, into a heap of 
which the smallest spark of fire falling would kindle the whole 
in a moment, although it were as big as a mountain, and make 
it all fiy up in the air together, with a noise and agitation 
greater than thunder. That a proper quantity of this powder, 
rammed into a hollow tube of brass or iron, would drive a ball 
of iron or lead with such violence and speed as nothing was 
able to sustain its force. That the largest balls, thus dis- 
charged, would not only destroy whole ranks of an army at 
once', but batter the strongest walls to the ground, sink ships, 
with a thousand men in each, to the bottom of the sea ; and, 
when linked together by a chain, would cut through masts and 
rigging, divide hundreds of bodies in the middle, and lay all 
waste before them. That we often put this powder into large 
hollow balls of iron, and discharged them by an engine into 
some city we were besieging, which would rip up the pave- 
ments, tear the houses to pieces, burst and throw splinters on 
every side, dashing out the brains of all who came near. That 
I knew the ingredients very well, which were cheap and com- 
mon ; I understood the manner of compounding them, and 
could direct his workmen how to make those tubes, of a size 
proportionable to all other things in his majesty’s kingdom, 
and the largest need not be above a hundred feet long ; 
twenty or thirty of which tubes, charged with the proper 
quantity of powder and balls, would batter down the walls of 
the strongest town in his dominions in a few hours, or destroy 
the whole metropolis, if ever it should pretend to dispute his 
absolute commands. This I humbly oftered to his majesty, 
as a small tribute of. acknowledgment, in return of so many 
marks that I had received of his royal favor and protection. 

The king was struck with horror at the description I had 
given of those terrible engines, and the proposal I had made. 


108 


GULLIVER’’ S TRAVELS 


He was amazed how so impotent and grovelling an insect as I 
(these were his expressions) could entertain such inhuman 
ideas, and in so familiar a manner as to appear wholly un- 
moved at all the scenes of blood and desolation which I had 
described as the common effects of those destructive machines : 
whereof, he said, some evil genius, enemy to mankind, must 
have been the first contriver. As for himself, he protested, 
that although few things delighted him so much as new dis- 
coveries in art or in nature, yet he would rather lose half his 
kingdom than be privy to such a secret ; which he commanded 
me, as I valued my life, never to mention any more. 

A strange effect of narrow principles and short views ! that 
a prince possessed of every quality which procures veneration, 
love, and esteem; of great wisdom, and profound learning, 
should, from an unnecessary scruple, whereof in Europe we can 
have no conception, let slip an opportunity put into his hands 
which would have made him absolute master of the lives, the 
liberties, and the fortunes of his people ! I take this defect 
to have risen from ignorance, they not having hitherto reduced 
politics into a science, as the more acute wits of Europe have 
done. For, I remember very well, in a discourse one day with 
the king, when I happened to say there were several thousand 
books among us written upon the art of government, it gave 
him (directly contrary to my intention) a very mean opinion 
of our understandings. He confined the knowledge of gov- 
erning within very narrow bounds, to common sense and reason, 
to justice and lenity, to the speedy determination of civil' and 
criminal causes ; with some other obvious topics which are not 
worth considering. He gave it for his opinion, that, who- 
ever could make two ears of corn, or two blades of grass, to 
grow upon a spot of ground where only one grew before, would 
deserve better of mankind, and do more essential service to his 
country, than the whole race of politicians put together. 

No law of that country must exceed in words the number of 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG 


109 


letters in their alphabet, which consists only of twenty-two. 
They are expressed in the most plain and simple terms, wherein 
those people are not keen enough to discover above one inter- 
pretation ; and to write a comment upon any lawis a capital crime. 

They have had the art of printing, time out of mind ; but 
their libraries are not very large ; for that of the king’s, which 
is reckoned the biggest, doth not amount to above a thousand 
volumes. It is placed in a gallery twelve hundred feet long, 
whence I had liberty to borrow what books I pleased. The 
queen’s joiner had contrived, in one of Glumdalclitch’s rooms, 
a kind of wooden machine, twenty-five feet high, formed like 
a standing ladder. The steps were each fifty feet long. It was 
indeed a moA^able pair of stairs, the lowest end placed at ten 
feet distance from the wall of the chamber. The book I had 
a mind to read was put up leaning against the wall. I first 
mounted to the upper step of the ladder, and turning my face 
toward the book, began at the top of the page, and so walk- 
ing to the right and left about eight or ten paces according to 
the length of the lines, till I had gotten a little below the level 
of mine eyes, and then descending gradually till I came to the 
bottom ; after which I mounted again, and began the other 
page in the same manner. That finished, I turned over the 
leaf, which I could easily do with both my hands, for it was as 
thick and stiff as pasteboard, and in the largest folios not above 
eighteen or twenty feet long. 

Their style is clear, vigorous, and smooth, but not florid; 
for they avoid nothing more than multiplying unnecessary 
words. I have perused many of their books, especially those 
in history and morality. Among the rest, I was much diverted 
with a little old treatise, which always lay in Glumdalclitch’s 
bedchamber, and belonged to her governess, a grave elderly 
gentlewoman, who dealt in writings of morality and devotion. 
The book treats of the weakness of human kind, and is in 
little esteem, except among the women and the uncultured. 


110 


GULLIVER'’ S TRAVELS 


However, I was curious to see what an author of that country 
could say upon such a subject. This wTiter went through all 
the usual topics of European moralists, showing, “ how diminu- 
tive, contemptible, and helpless an animal was man in his 
own nature ; how unable to defend himself from inclemencies of 
the air, or the fury of wild beasts ; how much he was excelled 
by one creature in strength, by another in speed, by a third 
in foresight, by a fourth in industry.” He added, “that nature 
was degenerated in these latter declining ages of the world, and 
it was very reasonable to think, not only that the species of 
man were originally much larger, but also that there must 
have been giants in former ages ; which, as it is asserted by 
history and tradition, so it hath been confirmed by huge bones 
and skulls, casually dug up in several parts of the kingdom, 
far exceeding the common, dwindled race of men in our days.” 
He argued, “ that the very laws of nature absolutely required 
we should have been made, in the beginning, of a size more 
large and robust ; not so liable to destruction from every little 
accident, of a tile falling from a house, or a stone cast from 
the hand of a boy, or of being drowned in a little brook.” 
From this way of reasoning the author drew several moral 
applications, useful in the conduct of life, but needless here to 
repeat. 

As to their military affairs, they boast that the king’s army 
consists of a hundred and seventy-six thousand foot and thirty- 
two thousand horse : if that may be called an army, which is 
made up of tradesmen in the several cities, and farmers in the 
country, whose commanders are only the nobility and gentry, 
without pay or reward. 

I have often seen the militia of Lorbrulgrud drawn out to 
exercise in a great field near the city, twenty miles square. 
They were in all not above twenty-five thousand foot and six 
thousand horse; but it was impossible for me to compute 
their number, considering the space of ground they took up. 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG 


111 


A cavalier, mounted on a large steed, might be about ninety 
feet high. I have seen this whole body of horse, upon a word 
of command, draw their swords at once, and brandish them in 
the air. Imagination can figure nothing so grand, so surpris- 
ing, and so astonishing ! It looked as if ten thousand flashes 
of lightning were darting at the same time from every quarter 
of the sky. 

I w*as curious to know how this prince, to whose dominions 
there is no access from any other country, came to think of 
armies, or to teach his people the practice of military disci- 
pline. But I was soon informed, both by conversation, and 
reading their histories; for, in the course of many ages, they 
have been troubled with the same disease to which many other 
governments are subject ; the nobility often contending for 
power, the people for liberty, and the king for absolute domin- 
ion, all which have been sometimes violated by each of the three 
parties, and have once or more occasioned civil wars ; the last 
whereof was happily put an end to by this prince’s grandfather. 


CHAPTER VIII 


The King and Queen make a progress to the frontiers — The Author 
attends them — The manner in which he leaves the Country 
very particularly related — He returns to England. 

I HAD always a strong impression that I should some time 
recover my liberty, though it was impossible to conjecture by 
what means, or to form any project with the least hope of 
succeeding. The ship in which I sailed was the first ever 
known to be driven within sight of that coast, and the king 
had given strict orders that if at any time another appeared it 
should be taken ashore, and, with all its crew and passengers, 
brought in a cart to Lorbrulgrud. I was treated with much 
kindness. I was the favorite of a great kiiig and queen, and 
the delight of the whole court ; but it was upon such a footing 
as ill became the dignity of human kind. I wanted to be 
among people with whom I could converse upon even terms, 
and walk about the streets and fields without fear of being 
trodden to death. But my deliverance came sooner than I 
expected. 

I had now been two years in the country ; and about the 
beginning of the third Glumdalclitch and I attended the king 
and queen to the south coast of the kingdom. I was carried, 
as usual, in my travelling-box, which, as I have already de- 
scribed, was a very convenient closet twelve feet wide. And I 
had ordered a hammock to be fixed, by silken ropes, from the 
four corners at the top, to break the jolts when a servant 
carried me before him on horseback ; and would often sleep in 

112 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG 


113 


my hammock while we were upon the road. On the roof of 
my closet I ordered the joiner to cut a hole a foot square, to 
give me air in hot weather, as I slept ; which hole I shut at 
pleasure with a board that drew backward and forward through 
a groove. 

When we came to our journey’s end, the king thought proper 
to pass a few days at a palace he hath near Flanflasnic, a city 
within eighteen English miles of the seaside. Glumdalclitch 
and I were much fatigued. I had gotten a small cold, but the 
poor girl was so ill as to be confined to her chamber. I longed 
to see the ocean, which must be the scene of my escape, if ever 
it should happen. I pretended to be worse than I really was, 
and desired leave to take the fresh air of the sea, with a page 
whom I was very fond of, and who had sometimes been trusted 
with me. I shall never forget with what unwillingness Glum- 
dalclitch consented, nor the strict charge she gave the page to 
be careful of me, bursting at the same time into a flood of tears, 
as if she had some foreboding of what was to happen. 

The boy took me out in my box, about half an hour’s walk 
from the palace, toward the rocks on the seashore. I ordered 
him to set me down, and lifting one of my windows, cast many 
a wistful, melancholy look toward the sea. I found myself not 
very well, and told the page that I had a mind to take a nap in 
my hammock, which I hoped would do me good. I got in, 
and the boy shut the window close down, to keep out the cold. 
I soon fell asleep, and all I can conjecture is, that while I slept 
the page, thinking no danger could happen, went among the 
rocks to look for birds’ eggs, having before observed him from my 
window searching about, and picking up one or two in the clefts. 

Be that as it may, I found myself suddenly awaked with a 
violent pull upon the ring, which was fastened at the top of my 
box for the conveniency of carriage. I felt my box raised very 
high in the air, and then borne forward with prodigious speecl. 
The first jolt had like to have shaken me out of ray hammock 


I 


114 


GULLIVER'S TRAVELS 


but afterward the motion was easy enough. I called out sev- 
eral times as loud as I could raise my voice, but all to no pur- 
pose. I looked toward my windows, and could see nothing 
but the clouds and sky. I heard a noise just over my head, 
like the clapping of wings, and then began to perceive the wo- 
ful condition I was in ; tliat some eagle had got the ring of my 
box in his beak, with an intent to let it fall on a rock, like a 
tortoise in a shell, and then pick out my body, and devour it : 
for the sagacity and smell of this bird enable him to discover 
liis quarry at a great distance. 

In a little time I observed the noise and flutter of wings to 
increase very fast, and my box was tossed up and down, like a 
swinging signboard in a windy day. I heard several bangs or 
buffets, as I thought, given to the eagle that held the ring of 
my box in his beak, and then, all on a sudden, felt myself fall- 
ing perpendicularly down for a minute, but with such incredible 
swiftness that I almost lost my breath. My fall was stopped 
by a terrible squash, that sounded louder to my ears than the 
cataract of Niagara ; after which I was quite in the dark for 
another minute, and then my box began to rise so high that I 
could see light from the tops of my windows. 

I now perceived that I was fallen into the sea. My box, by 
the weight of my body, the goods that were in it, and the 
broad plates of iron fixed for strength at the four corners of the 
top and bottom, floated above five feet deep in water. I sup- 
pose that the eagle, which flew away with my box, was 
pursued by two or three others, and forced to let me drop, 
while he was defending himself against the rest, who hoped to 
share in the prey. The plates of iron fastened at the bottom 
of the box (for those were the strongest) preserved the balance 
while it fell, and hindered it from being broken on the surface 
of the water. Every joint of it was well grooved ; and the 
door did not move on hinges, but up and down like a sash, 
which kept my room so tight that very little water came in. I 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG 


115 


got with much difficulty out of my hammock, having first ven- 
tured to draw back the slip-board on the roof, already men- 
tioned, contrived on purpose to let in air, for want of which I 
found myself almost stifled. 

How often did I then wish myself with my dear Glumdal- 
clitch, from whom one single hour had so far divided me ! And 
in the midst of my own misfortunes, I could not forbear la- 
menting the grief she would suffer for my loss. Perhaps many 
travellers have not been under greater difficulties and distress 
than I was at this juncture, expecting every moment to see my 
box dashed in pieces, or, at least, overset by the first violent 
blast or a rising wave. A breach in one single pane of glass 
would have been immediate death : nor could anything have pre- 
served the windows, but the strong lattice wires, placed on the 
outside, against accidents in travelling. I saw the water ooze 
in at several crannies, although the leaks were not considerable, 
and I endeavored to stop them as well as I could. I was not able 
to lift up the roof of my closet, which otherwise I certainly 
should have done, and sat on the top of it ; where I might at 
least preserve myself some hours longer, than by being shut up 
(as I may call it) in the hold. Or, if I escaped these dangers 
for a day or two, what could I expect but a miserable death of 
cold and hunger ? I was four hours under these circumstances, 
expecting, and indeed wishing, every moment to be my last. 

I have already told the reader that there were two strong 
staples fixed upon that side of my box which had no window, 
and into wdiich the servant, who used to carry me on horseback, 
would put a leathern belt, and buckle it about his waist. 
Being in this disconsolate state, I heard, or at least thought I 
heard, some kind of grating noise on that side of my box where 
the staples were fixed ; and soon after I began to fancy that the 
box was pulled or towed along in the sea ; for I now and then 
felt a sort of tugging, which made the waves rise near the tops of 
my windows, leaving me almost in the dark. This gave me some 


116 


GULLIVER’’ S TRAVELS 


faint hopes of relief, although I was not able to imagine how it 
could be brought about, I ventured to unscrew one of my 
chairs, which were always fastened to the floor; and having 
contrived to screw it down again, directly under the slipping- 
board that I had lately opened, I mounted on the chair, and, 
putting my mouth as near as I could to the hole, I called for 
help in a loud voice, and in all the languages I understood. I 
then fastened my handkerchief to a stick I usually carried, and, 
thrusting it up the hole weaved it several times in the air, that, 
if any boat or ship were near, the seamen might conjecture some 
unhappy mortal to be shut up in this box. 

I found no effect from all I could do, but plainly perceived my 
box to be moved along ; and in the space of an hour, or better, 
that side of the box where the staples were, and had no win- 
dows, struck against something that was hard. I apprehended , 
it to be a rock, and found myself tossed more than ever. I plainly 
heard a noise upon the cover of my room like that of a cable, 
and the grating of it as it passed through the ring. I then 
found myself hoisted up, by degrees, at least three feet higher 
than I was before. Whereupon I again thrust up my stick and 
handkerchief, calling for help till I was almost hoarse. In re- 
turn to which I heard a shout repeated three times, that gave 
me transports of joy. I now heard a great trampling over my 
head, and somebody calling through the hole with a loud voice, in 
the English tongue, “ If there be anybody below, let him speak.” 

I answered, I was an Englishman, drawn, by ill fortune, into the 
greatest calamity that ever any creature underwent, and begged, 
by all that was moving, to be delivered out of the dungeon I was in. 

The voice replied, I was safe, for my box was fastened to 
their ship, and the carpenter should immediately come and saw 
a hole in the cover, large enough to pull me out. 

I answered, that was needless, but let one of the crew put 
his finger into the ring, and take the box out of the sea into the 
ship, and so into the captain’s cabin. 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG 


117 


Some of them, upon hearing me talk so wildly, thought I was 
mad ; others laughed ; for indeed it never came into my head 
that I was now got among people of my own stature and strength. 
The carpenter came, and, in a few minutes, sawed a passage 
about four feet square, then let down a ladder, upon which 
I mounted, and thence was taken into the ship in a very weak 
condition. 

The sailors were all in amazement, and asked me a thousand 
questions, which I had no inclination to answer. I was equally 
confounded at the sight of so many pigmies, for such I took 
them to be, after having so long accustomed mine eyes to the 
monstrous objects I had left. But the captain, Mr. Thomas 
Wilcocks, an honest, worthy Shropshire-man, observing I was 
ready to faint, took me into his cabin, gave me a cordial to com- 
fort me, and made me lie down on his own bed, advising me to 
take a little rest, of which I had great need. Before I went to 
sleep I gave him to understand that I had some valuable furni- 
ture in my box, too good to be lost ; a fine hammock — a 
handsome bed — two chairs — a table — and a bureau. That 
my box was hung on all sides, or rather quilted with silk and 
cotton ; that, if he -would let one of the crew bring my box into 
his cabin, I would open it there before him, and show him my 
goods. The captain, hearing me utter these absurdities, con- 
cluded I was raving. However (I suppose to pacify me) he 
promised to give order as I desired, and going on deck, sent 
some of his men down into my box, whence (as I afterward 
found) they took all my goods, and stripped off the quilting. 
The chairs, cabinet, and bedstead, being screwed to the door, 
were much damaged by the ignorance of the seamen, who tore 
them up by force. Then they knocked off some of the boards 
for the use of the ship, and when they had got all they had a 
mind for, let the hull drop into the sea, which, by reason of 
many breaches made in the bottom and sides, sunk at once. 

I slept some hours, but perpetually disturbed with dreams 


118 


GULLIVER^ S TRAVELS 


of the place I had left, and the dangers I had escaped. However, 
upon waking, I found myself much recovered. It was now about 
eight o’clock at night, and the captain ordered supper immedi- 
ately, thinking I had already fasted too long. He entertained 
me with great kindness, observing me not to look wildly, or 
talk inconsistently; and, when we were left alone, desired I 
would give him a relation of my travels, and by what accident 
I came to be set adrift in that monstrous wooden chest. He 
said that about twelve o’clock at noon, as he was looking through 
his glass, he spied it at a distance, and thought it was a ship. 
Upon coming nearer, and finding his error, he sent out his long- 
boat to discover what it was. His men came back in a fright, 
swearing that they had seen a swimming house. He laughed 
at their folly, and went himself in the boat, ordering his men to 
take a strong cable along with them. The weather being calm, 
he rowed round me several times, observed my windows, and 
the wire lattices that defended them. He discovered two staples 
on one side which was all of boards without any passage for 
light. He then commanded his men to row up to that side, 
and fastening a cable to one of the staples, ordered them to tow 
my chest, as they called it, toward the ship. When it was there, 
he gave directions to fasten another cable to the ring fixed in 
the cover, and to raise up my chest with pulleys, which all of the 
sailors were not able to do above two or three feet. He said 
they saw my stick and handkerchief thrust out of the hole, and 
concluded that some unhappy man must be shut up in the cavity. 

I asked whether he or the crew had seen any prodigious birds 
in the air about the time he first discovered me ? To which 
he answered, that discoursing with the sailors while I was 
asleep, one of them said he had observed three eagles fiying 
toward the north, but remarked nothing of their being larger 
than the usual size ; which, I suppose, must be imputed to the 
great height they were at ; and he could not guess the reason 
of my question. 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG 


119 


I then asked the captain how far he reckoned we might be 
from land? 

He said, by the best computation he could make, we were, at 
least, a hundred leagues. 

I assured him that he must be mistaken by almost half, for 
I had not left the country whence I came above two hours 
before I dropped into the sea. Whereupon, he began again to 
think that my brain was disturbed, of which he gave me a 
hint, and advised me to go to bed in a cabin he had provided. 

I assured him I was well refreshed with his good entertain- 
ment and company, and as much in my senses as ever I was in 
my life. 

He then grew serious, and desired to ask me freely, whether I 
were not troubled in mind by the consciousness of some enor- 
mous crime, for which I was punished, at the command of 
some prince, by exposing me in that chest ; as great criminals, 
in 'other countries, have been forced to sea in a leaky vessel, 
without provisions ; for although he should be sorry to have 
taken so ill a man into his ship, yet he would engage his word 
to set me safe on shore at the first port where we arrived. He 
added that his suspicions were much increased by some very 
absurd speeches I had delivered at first to the sailors, and 
afterward to himself, in relation to my closet or chest, as well 
as by my odd looks and behavior while I was at supper. 

I begged his patience to hear me tell my story, which I 
faithfully did, from the last time I left England to the moment 
he first discovered me. And as truth always forceth its way 
into rational minds, so this honest, worthy gentleman, who had 
some tincture of learning and very good sense, was immediately 
convinced of my candor and veracity. But, further to confirm 
all I had said, I entreated him to give order that my bureau 
should be brought, of which I had the key in my pocket ; for 
he had already informed me how the seamen disposed of my 
box. I opened it in his own presence, and showed him the 


120 


GULLIVER^S TRAVELS 


small collection of rarities I made in the country whence I had 
been so strangely delivered. There was the comb I had con- 
trived out of the stumps of the king’s beard, and another of 
the same materials, but fixed into a paring of her majesty’s 
thumb-nail, which served for the back. There was a collection of 
needles and pins, from a foot to half a yard long ; four wasp’s 
stings ; some combings of the queen’s hair ; a gold ring, which 
one day she made me a present of, in a most obliging manner, 
taking it from her little finger, and throwing it over my head 
like a collar. I desired the captain would please to accept this 
ring in return of his civilities, which he absolutely refused. 
Lastly, I desired him to see the breeches I had then on, which 
were made of a mouse’s skin. 

I could force nothing on him but a footman’s tooth, which 
I observed him to examine with great curiosity, and found 
he had a fancy for it. He received it with abundance of 
thanks, more than such a trifle could deserve. It was drawn 
by an unskilful surgeon in a mistake, from one of Glumdal- 
clitch’s men, who was afflicted with the toothache, but it was 
as sound as any in his head. I got it cleaned, and put it into 
my cabinet. It was about a foot long and four inches in 
diameter. 

The captain was very well satisfied with this plain relation 
I had given him, and said he hoped when we returned to Eng- 
land, I would oblige the world by putting it on paper and mak- 
ing it public. My answer was that I thought we were already 
overstocked with books of travels. However, I thanked him 
for his good opinion, and promised to take the matter into my 
thoughts. He said he wondered at one thing very much, 
which was, to hear me speak so loud ; asking me whether the 
king or queen of that country were thick of hearing ? 

I told him it was what I had been used to for above two 
years past, and that I marvelled as much at the voices of him 
and his men, who seemed to me only to whisper, and yet I 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG 


121 


could hear them well enough. But when I spoke in that coun- 
try it was like a man talking in the street to another looking 
out from the top of a steeple, unless when I was placed on a 
table, or held in any person’s hand. I told him I had likewise 
observed another thing, that, when I first got into the ship, 
and the sailors stood all about me, I thought they "were the 
most contemptible little creatures I had ever beheld. For, in- 
deed, while I was in that prince’s country, I could never endure 
to look in a glass after mine eyes had been accustomed to such 
prodigious objects, because the comparison gave me so despic- 
able a conceit of myself. 

The captain said that while we were at supper he observed 
me to look at everything with a sort of wmnder, and that I 
often seemed hardly able to contain my laughter, which he 
knew not well how to take, but imputed it to some disorder in 
my brain. 

I answered, it was very true : and I wondered how I could 
forbear when I saw his dishes of the size of a silver threepence, 
a leg of pork hardly a mouthful, a cup not so big as a nutshell ; 
and so I went on, describing the rest of his household stuff and 
provisions after the same manner. For, although the queen 
had ordered a little equipage of all things necessary for me, 
while I was in her service, yet my ideas were wholly taken up 
with what I saw on every side of me, and I winked at my own 
littleness as people do at their own faults. The captain under- 
stood my raillery very well, and merrily protested he would 
have gladly given a hundred pounds to have seen my box in 
the eagle’s bill, and afterward in its fall from so great a height 
into the sea ; which would certainly have been a most astonish- 
ing object worthy to have the description of it transmittecj to 
future ages. 

The captain, having been at Tonquin, was, on his return to 
England, driven northeastward to the latitude of 44 degrees, 
and longitude of 143.° But, meeting a trade-wind two days 


122 


GULLIVER'^ S TRAVELS 


after I came on board him, we sailed southward a long time, 
and, coasting New Holland,® kept our course southwest, till we 
doubled the Cape of Good Hope. The captain called in at one 
or two ports, and sent in his long-boat for provisions and fresh 
water ; but I never went out of the shij) till we came into the 
Downs,® which was on the third day of June, 1706, about nine 
months after my escape. I offered to leave my goods in security 
for payment of my freight ; but the captain protested he would 
not receive one farthing. We took kind leave of each other, 
and I made him promise he would come to see me at my house 
in Redriff. I hired a horse and guide for five shillings, which 
I borrowed of the captain. 

As I was on the road, observing the littleness of the houses, 
the trees, the cattle, and the people, I began to think myself in 
Lilliput. I was afraid of trampling on every traveller I met, 
and often called aloud to have them stand out of the way, so 
that I had like to have gotten one or two broken heads for my 
impertinence. 

When I came to my own house, for which I was forced to 
inquire, one of the servants opening the door, I bent down to go 
in (like a goose under a gate) for fear of striking my head. My 
wife ran out to embrace me, but I stooped lower than her knees, 
thinking she could otherwise never be able to reach my mouth. 
My daughter kneeled to ask my blessing, but I could not see 
her till she arose, having been so long used to stand with my 
head and eyes erect to above sixty feet ; and then I went to 
take her up with one hand by the waist. I looked down upon 
the servants, and one or two friends who were in the house, as 
if they had been pigmies and I a giant. I told my wife she 
had been too thrifty, for I found she had starved herself and 
her daughter to nothing. In short, I behaved myself so unac- 
countably that they were all of the captain’s opinion when he 
first saw me, and concluded I had lost my wits. This I mention 
as an instance of the great power of habit and prejudice. 


A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG 


123 


In a little time I and my family and friends came to a right 
understanding ; but my wife protested I should never go to sea 
any more ; although my evil destiny so ordered that she had 
not power to hinder me, as the reader may know hereafter. In 
the meantime I here conclude the second part of my unfortunate 
voyages. 






J 


PART III 


A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA, BALNIBARBI, 
LUGGNAGG, GLUBBDUBDRIBB, AND JAPAN 





A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA, BALNIBARBI, 
LUGGNAGG, GLUBBDUBDRIBB, 

AND JAPAN 


CHAPTER I 

The Author sets out on his third Voyage — Is taken by Pirates — 
The malice of a Dutchman — His arrival at an Island — He is 
received into Laputa. 

I HAD not been at home above ten days when Captain 
William Robinson, a Cornish man, commander of the Hope- 
well^ a stout ship of three hundred tons, came to my house. I 
had formerly been surgeon of another ship, where he was master 
and a fourth-part owner, in a voyage to the Levant. He had 
always treated me more like a brother than an inferior officer ; 
and, hearing of my arrival, made me a visit, as I apprehended, 
only out of friendship, for nothing passed more than what is 
usual after long absences. But, repeating his visits often, 
expressing his joy to find me in good health, adding, that he 
intended a voyage to the East Indies in two months ; at last 
he invited me to be surgeon of the ship ; saying that my salary 
should be double the usual pay ; and that having experienced 
my knowledge in sea affairs to be at least equal to his, he 
would enter into any engagement to follow my advice as much 
as if I had share in the command. 

127 


128 


GULLIVER^ S TRAVELS 


He said so many other obliging things, and I knew him to 
be so honest a man, that I could not reject his proposal ; the 
thirst I had of seeing the world, notwithstanding my past mis- 
fortunes, continuing as violent as ever. The only difficulty 
that remained was to persuade my wife, whose consent, how- 
ever, I at last obtained, by the prospect of advantage to our 
children. 

We set out the 5th day of August, 1706, and arrived at 
Madras the 11th of April, 1707. We stayed there three 
weeks to refresh our crew, many of whom were sick. Thence 
we 'went to Tonquin, where the captain resolved to continue 
some time, because many of the goods he intended to buy were 
not ready. Therefore, in hopes to defray some of the charges 
he must be at, he bought a sloop, loaded it with several sorts 
of goods, wherewith the Tonquinese usually trade to the 
neighboring islands, and putting fourteen men on board, he ap- 
pointed me master of the sloop, and gave me power to traffic 
while he transacted his affairs at Tonquin. 

We had not sailed above three days, when a great storm 
arising, we were driven five days to the north -northeast, and 
then to the east ; after which we had fair weather, but still 
with a pretty strong gale from the west. Upon the tenth day 
we were chased by two pirate ships which soon overtook us ; for 
my sloop was so deep laden that she sailed very slowly, neither 
were we in a condition to defend ourselves. 

We were boarded about the same time by both the pirate 
captains, who entered furiously at the head of their men ; but, 
finding us all prostrate upon our faces (for so I gave order) they 
pinioned us with strong ropes, and, setting a guard upon us, 
went to search the sloop. 

I observed among them a Dutchman, who seemed to be of 
some authority, though he was not commander of either ship. 
He knew us by our countenances to be Englishmen, and, jabber- 
ing to us in his own language, swore we should be tied back tq 


A VOYAGE TO LAPU^A 


129 


back, and thrown into the sea. I spoke Dutch tolerably well. 
I told him who we were, and begged him, in consideration of 
our being Christians and Protestants, of neighboring countries 
in strict alliance, that he would urge the captains to take 
some pity on us. This inflamed his rage. He repeated his 
threatenings, and, turning to his companions, spoke with great 
vehemence in the Japanese language, as I suppose, often using 
the word Christianos. 

The largest of the two pirate ships was commanded by a 
Japanese captain, who spoke a little Dutch. He came up to 
me, and, after several questions, which I answered in great 
humility, he said we should not die. I made the captain a 
very low bow, and then, turning to the Dutchman, said I was 
sorry to find more mercy in a heathen than in a brother 
Christian. But I had soon reason to repent those foolish 
words ; for that malicious reprobate, having endeavored in vain 
to persuade both the captains that I might be thrown into the 
sea (wdiich they would not yield to, after the promise made me 
that I should not die) however, prevailed so far as to have a 
punishment inflicted on me, worse, in all human appearance, 
than death itself. My men were sent by an equal division into 
both the pirate ships and my sloop new manned. As to my- 
self, it was determined that I should be set adrift in a small 
canoe, with paddles and a sail, and four day’s provisions ; which 
last the Japanese captain was so kind as to double out of his 
own stores. I got down into the canoe, while the Dutchman, 
standing upon the deck, loaded me with all the curses and 
injurious terms his language could aflbrd. 

About an hour before we saw the pirates I had taken an ob- 
servation, and found we were in latitude 46 N. and longitude 
183.° When I was at some distance from the pirates I dis- 
covered by my pocket-glass several islands to the southeast. I 
set up my sail, the wind being fair, with a design to reach the 
nearest of those islands, which I made a shift to do in about 

K 


130 


GULLIVER’S TRAVELS 


three hours. It was all rocky. However, I got many birds’ 
eggs ; and striking fire, I kindled some heath and dry seaweed, 
by which I roasted my eggs. I ate no other supper, being- 
resolved to spare my provisions as much as I could. I passed 
the night under the shelter of a rock, strewing some heath 
under me, and slept pretty well. 

The next day I sailed to another island, and thence to a 
third and fourth, sometimes using my sail, and sometimes 
my paddles. But on the fifth day I arrived at the last island 
in my sight, which lay southeast of the former. 

This island was at a greater distance than I expected, and I 
did not reach it in less than five hours. I nearly encompassed 
it before I could find a convenient place to land ; which was a 
small creek, about three times the wideness of my canoe. I 
found the island to be all rocks, with only a little intermingling 
of tufts of grass and sweet-smelling herbs. I took out my 
small provisions, and, after having refreshed myself, I secured 
the remainder in a cave, whereof there were great numbers. I 
gathered plenty of eggs upon the rocks, and got a quantity of 
dry seaweed and parched grass, which I designed to kindle the 
next day, and roast my eggs as well as I could ; for I had about 
me my flint, steel, tinder, and burning-glass. I lay all night in 
the cave where I had lodged my provisions. My bed was the 
same dry grass and seaweed which I intended for fuel. I slept 
very little, for the disquiets of my mind prevailed over my 
weariness, and kept me awake. I considered how impossible 
it was to preserve my life in so desolate a place, and how 
miserable my end must be. Yet I found myself so listless and 
desponding that I had not the heart to rise; and, before I 
could get spirits enough to creep out of my cave, the day w'as 
far advanced. 

I walked awhile among the rocks. The sky was perfectly 
clear, and the sun so hot that I was forced to turn my face 
from it ; when, all on a sudden, it became obscure, as I thought. 


A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA 


131 


in a manner very different from what happens by the interposi- 
tion of a cloud. I turned back, and perceived a vast opaque 
body between me and the sun, moving forward toward the 
island. It seemed to be about two miles high, and hid the sun 
six or seven minutes ; but I did not observe the air to be mucli 
colder, or the sky more darkened, than if I had stood under the 
shade of a mountain. As it approached nearer over the place 
where I was, it appeared to be a firm substance, the bottom 
flat, smooth, and shining very bright, from the reflection of the 
sea below. I stood upon a height about two hundred yards 
from the shore, and saw this vast body descending almost to a 
parallel with me, at less than an English mile distance. I 
took out my pocket perspective, and could plainly discover 
numbers of people moving up and down the sides of it, which 
appeared to be sloping : but what those people were doing I 
was not able to distinguish. 

The natural love of life gave me some inward motions of joy, 
and I was ready to entertain a hope that this adventure might, 
some way or other, help to deliver me from the desolate place 
and condition I was in. But at the same time the reader can 
hardly conceive my astonishment to behold an island in the air, 
inhabited by men who were able (as it would seem) to raise or 
sink, or put it into a progressive motion, as they pleased. But 
not being at that time in a disposition to philosophize upon 
this phenomenon, I rather chose to observe what course the 
island would take, because it seemed for a while to stand still. 
Yet, soon after, it advanced nearer, and I could see the sides of 
it encompassed with several gradations of galleries, and there 
were stairs, at certain intervals, to descend from one gallery to 
another. In the lowest gallery I beheld some people fishing 
with long angling rods, and others looking on. I waved my 
hat and my handkerchief toward the island ; and upon its 
nearer approach I called and shouted with the utmost strength 
of my voice ; and then looking circumspectly, I beheld a crowd 


132 


GULLIVER'S TRAVELS 


gather to that side which was most in my view. I found by 
their pointing toward me, and to each other, that they plainly 
discovered me, although they made no return to my shouting. 
But I could see four or five men running in great haste up the 
stairs, to the top of the island, who then disappeared. I con- 
jectured that these were sent for orders, to some person in 
authority. 

The number of people increased, and in less than an hour the 
island was moved in such a manner that the lowest gallery ap- 
peared in a parallel of less than a hundred yards distance from 
the height where I stood. I then put myself into the most 
supplicating postures, and spoke in the humblest accent, but re- 
ceived no answer. Those who stood nearest over against me 
seemed to be persons of distinction, as I supposed by their habit. 
They conferred earnestly with each other, looking often upon 
me. At length one of them called out in a clear, polite, smooth 
dialect, not unlike in sound to the Italian ; and, therefore, I re- 
turned an answer in that language, hoping at least that the 
cadence might be more agreeable to his ears. Although neither 
of us understood the other, yet my meaning was easily known, 
for the people saw the distress I was in. 

They made signs for me to come down from the rock, and 
go toward the shore, which I accordingly did ; and the flying 
island being adjusted to a convenient height, the verge directly 
over me, a chain was let down from the lowest gallery, with a 
seat fastened to the bottom, to which I fixed myself, and was 
drawn up by pulleys. 


CHAPTER II 


The Humors and Dispositions of the Laputians described — An 
account of their Learning — Of the King and his Court — The 
Author’s reception there — The Inhabitants subject to fears 
and disquietudes — A Description of the Flying Island — The 
King’s method of suppressing Insurrections. 

At my alighting I was surrounded by a crowd of people, 
and I never had seen a race of mortals so singular in their 
shapes, habits, and countenances. Their heads were all in- 
clined either to the right or the left. One of their eyes turned 
inward, and the other directly up to the zenith. Their out- 
ward garments were adorned wdth the figures of suns, moons, 
and stars ; interwoven with those of fiddles, flutes, harps, trum- 
pets, guitars, harpsichords,® and with many more instruments 
of music unknown to us in Europe. I observed here and there 
many in the habit of servants, with a blown bladder fastened 
like a flail to the end of a short stick, which they carried in 
their hands. In each bladder was a small quantity of dried 
peas, or little pebbles, as I was afterward informed. With 
these bladders they now and then flapped the mouths and ears 
of those who stood near them, of which practice I could not 
then conceive the meaning. It seems the minds of these people 
are so taken up with intense speculations that they neither can 
speak, nor attend to the discourses of others, without being 
roused by some external action upon the organs of speech and 
hearing ; for which reason those persons who are able to afford 
it always keep a flapper in their family as one of their domestics ; 
nor ever walk abroad, or make visits, without him. And the 

133 


134 


G ULLI VER^S TRA VELS 


business of this officer is, when two or three or more persons are 
in company, gently to strike with his bladder the mouth of him 
who is to speak, and the right ear of him or them to whom the 
speaker addresseth himself. This flapper is likewise employed 
diligently to attend his master in his walks, and upon occasion 
to give him a soft flap on his eyes ; because he is always so 
wrapped up in cogitation that he is in manifest danger of fall- 
ing down every precipice, and bouncing his head against every 
post; and in the streets of jostling others, or being jostled him- 
self, into the gutter. 

These people conducted me up the stairs to the top of the 
island, and thence to the royal palace. While we were ascend- 
ing they forgot several times what they were about, and left 
me to myself, till their memories were again roused by their 
flappers, for tliey appeared altogether unmoved by the sight of 
my foreign habit and countenance, and by the shouts of the 
vulgar, whose thoughts and minds were more disengaged. 

At last we entered the palace, and proceeded into the cham- 
ber of presence, where I saw the king seated on his throne, at- 
tended on each side by persons of quality. Before the throne 
was a large table filled with globes and spheres and mathe- 
matical instruments of all kinds. His majesty took not the 
least notice of us, although our entrance was with sufficient 
noise. But he was then deep in a problem ; and we attended 
at least an hour before he could solve it. There stood by 
him, on each side, a young page with a flap in his hands, and 
when the pages saw he was at leisure, one of them gently struck 
his mouth, and the other his right ear; at which he started 
like one awaked on the sudden, and looking toward me and the 
company I was in, recollected the occasion of our coming, 
whereof he had been informed before. He spoke some words, 
whereupon immediately a young man with a flap came up to my 
side and flapped me gently on the right ear ; but I made signs, 
as well as I could, that I had no occasion for such an instru- 


A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA 


135 


ment, which, as I afterward fouad, gave his majesty and the 
whole court a very mean opinion of my understanding. 

The king, as far as I could conjecture, asked me several ques- 
tions, and I addressed myself to him in all the languages I had. 
When it was found that I could neither understand nor be 
understood, I was conducted by the king’s order to an apart- 
ment in his palace, where two servants were appointed to attend 
me. My dinner was brought, and four persons of quality, whom 
I remembered to have seen very near the king’s person, did me 
the honor to dine with me. We had two courses of three dishes 
each. In the first course there was a shoulder of mutton cut 
into an equilateral triangle, a piece of beef into a rhomboid, 
and a pudding into a cycloid. The second course was two 
ducks trussed up into the form of fiddles ; sausages and pud- 
dings, resembling flutes and hautboys, and a breast of veal in the 
shape of a harp. The servants cut our bread into cones, cylin- 
ders, parallelograms, and several other mathematical figures. 

While we were at dinner I made bold to ask the names of 
several things in their language, and those noble persons, by the 
assistance of their flappers, delighted to give me answers, hop- 
ing I could be brought to converse with them. I was soon 
able to call for bread and drink, or whatever else I wanted. 

After dinner my company withdrew, and a person was sent 
to me by the king’s order, attended by a flapper. He brought 
with him pen, ink, and paper, and three or four books, giving 
me to understand by signs that he was sent to teach me the 
language. We sat together four hours, in which time I wrote 
down a great number of words in columns, with the translations 
over against them ; I likewise made a shift to learn several short 
sentences. For my tutor would order one of my servants to 
fetch something, or turn about, to make a bow, to sit, or stand, 
or walk, and the like. Then I took down the sentence in writ- 
ing. He showed me also, in one of his books, the figures of the 
sun, moon, and stars, the zodiac, the tropic and polar circles. 


136 


GULLIVER^ S TRAVELS 


together with the denominations of many figures of planes and 
solids. He gave me names and descriptions of all the musical 
instruments, and the general terms of art in playing on each 
of them. After he had left me I placed all my words, with 
their interpretations, in alphabetical order. And thus, in a 
few days, by the lielp of a very faithful memory, I got some 
insight into their language. 

Those to whom the king had intrusted me, observing how 
ill I was clad, ordered a tailor to come next morning, and take 
my measure for a suit of clothes. This operator first took my 
altitude by a quadrant, and then, with rule and compasses, 
described the dimensions and outlines of my whole body, all 
which he entered upon paper ; and, in six days, brought my 
clothes, very ill made, and quite out of shape, by happening to 
mistake a figure in the calculation. But my comfort was, that 
such accidents were very frequent, and little regarded. 

During my confinement, for want of clothes, and by an 
indisposition that held me some days longer, I much enlarged 
my dictionary; and when I went next to court, was able to 
understand many things the king spoke, and to return him 
some kind of answers. His majesty had given orders that the 
island or Laputa as they called it, should move northeast to the 
vertical point over Lagado, the metropolis of the whole king- 
dom below, upon the firm earth. It was about ninety leagues 
distant, and our voyage lasted four days and a half. I was 
not in the least sensible of the progressive motion made in the 
air by the island. On the second morning, about eleven o’clock, 
the king himself in person, attended by his nobility, courtiers, 
and officers, having prepared all their musical instruments, 
played on them for three hours without intermission, so that I 
was quite stunned with the noise. 

In our journey toward Lagado, the capital city, his majesty 
ordered that the island should stop over certain towns and vil- 
lages, whence he might receive the petitions of his subjects. 


A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA 


137 


And, to this purpose, several packthreads were let down, with 
small weights at the bottom. On these packthreads the people 
strung their petitions, which mounted up directly, like the 
scraps of paper fastened by schoolboys at the end of the string 
that holds their kite. Sometimes w'e received wine and vict- 
uals from below, which were drawn up by pulleys. 

The knowledge I had in mathematics gave me great assist- 
ance in acquiring their phraseology, which depended much upon 
that science and music ; and in the latter I was not unskilled. 
Their ideas are perpetually conversant in lines and figures. I 
observed, in the king’s kitchen, all sorts of mathematical and 
musical instruments, after the figures of which they cut up the 
joints that were served to his majesty’s table. 

Their houses are very ill built ; and this defect ariseth from 
the instructions they give being too refined for the intellects of 
their workmen, which occasions perpetual mistakes. And 
although they are dexterous enough upon a piece of paper, in 
the management of the rule, the pencil, and the compasses, yet, 
in the common actions and behavior of life, I have not seen a 
more clumsy, awkward, and unhandy people, nor so slow and 
perplexed in their conceptions upon all other subjects, except 
those of mathematics and music. They are very bad reasoners, 
and vehemently given to opposition. Imagination, fancy, and 
invention, they are wholly strangers to, nor have they any 
words in their language by which those ideas can be expressed ; 
the whole compass of their thoughts and mind being shut up 
within the two fore-mentioned sciences. 

Most of them, and especially those who deal in the astronom- 
ical part, have great faith in judicial astrology,® although they 
are ashamed to own it publicly. 

These people are under continual disquietudes, never enjoy- 
ing a minute’s peace of mind from their apprehensions of 
changes they dread in the celestial bodies. For instance, that 
the earth, by the continual approach of the sun toward it. 


138 


GULLIVER’S TRAVELS 


must, in course of time, be swallowed up. That the face of 
the sun will, by degrees, be encrusted with its own effluvia, 
and give no more light to the world. That the earth very nar- 
rowly escaped a brush from the tail of the last comet, which 
would have infallibly reduced it to ashes ; and that the next, 
which they have calculated for thirty-one years hence, will 
probably destroy us. For if it should approach within a cer- 
tain degree of the sun, it will acquire a degree of heat ten thou- 
sand times more intense than that of red-hot glowing iron, and 
carry a blazing tail, ten hundred thousand and fourteen miles 
long ; through which, if the earth should pass at the distance of 
one hundred thousand miles from the nucleus, or main body of 
the comet, it must in its passage be set on fire, and reduced to 
ashes. That the sun, daily spending its rays without any nu- 
triment to supply them, will at last be wholly consumed and 
annihilated ; which must be attended with the destruction of 
this earth, and of all the planets that receive their light from it. 

They are so perpetually alarmed with the apprehensions of 
these and the like impending dangers, that they can neither 
sleep quietly in their beds, nor have any relish for the common 
pleasures or amusements of life. When they meet an acquaint- 
ance in the morning the first question is about the sun’s health, 
how he looked at his setting and rising, and what hopes they 
have to avoid the stroke of the approaching comet. ° This 
conversation they are apt to run into with the same temper 
that boys discover in delighting to hear terrible stories of spirits 
and hobgoblins, which they greedily listen to, and dare not go 
to bed for fear. 

In about a month’s time I had made a tolerable proficiency 
in their language, and was able to answer most of the king’s 
questions, when I had the honor to attend him. His majesty 
showed not the least curiosity to inquire into the laws, gov- 
ernment, history, religion, or manners of the countries where 
I had been ; but confined his questions to the state of mathe- 


A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA 


139 


matics, and received the account I gave him with great contempt 
and indifference, though often roused by his flapper on each side. 

I desired leave of this prince to see the curiosities of the 
island, which he was graciously pleased to grant, and ordered 
my tutor to attend me. I chiefly wanted to know to what 
cause it owed its several motions. 

The Floating Island is exactly circular, its diameter about 
four miles and a half, and consequently contains ten thousand 
acres. It is three hundred yards thick. The bottom is one 
even regular plate of adamant, ° above which lie various layers 
of rock ; and over all is a coat of rich mould, ten or twelve 
feet deep. The declivity of the upper surface, from the circum- 
ference to the centre, is the natural cause why all the dews and 
rains, which fall upon the island, are conveyed in small rivulets 
toward the middle, where they are emptied into four large 
basins, each of about half a mile in circuit, and two hundred 
yards distant from the centre. From these basins the water 
is continually exhaled by the sun in the daytime, which effectu- 
ally prevents their overflowing. 

At the centre of the island there is a chasm, about fifty 
yards in diameter, whence the astronomers descend into a large 
dome, which is called the Astronomer’s Cave, situated at the 
depth of a hundred yards beneath the upper surface of the 
adamant. In this cave are twenty lamps continually burning, 
which from the reflection of the adamant cast a strong light 
into every part. The place is stored with a great variety of 
sextants, telescopes, and other astronomical instruments. But 
the greatest curiosity, upon which the fate of the island 
depends, is a loadstone of prodigious size, in shape resem- 
bling a weaver’s shuttle. It is in length six yards, and in the 
thickest part at least three yards in circumference. This mag- 
net is sustained by a very strong axle of adamant passing 
through its middle, upon which it is poised so exactly that 
the weakest hand can turn it. 


140 


GULLIVER^ S TRAVELS 


By means of this loadstone the island is made to rise and 
fall, and move from one place to another. For the stone is 
endued at one of its ends with an attractive power, and at the 
other with a repulsive. Upon placing the magnet erect, with 
its attracting end toward the earth, the island descends ; but 
when the repelling extremity points downward, . the island 
mounts directly upward. When the position of the stone is 
oblique, the motion of the island is so too ; for in this magnet 
the forces always act in lines parallel to its direction. 

But it must be observed that this island cannot move beyond 
the extent of the dominions below, nor can it rise above the 
height of four miles. For which the astronomers assign the 
following reason : that the magnetic virtue does not extend be- 
yond the distance of four miles, and that the mineral, which 
acts upon the stone in the bowels of the earth, and in the sea 
about six leagues distant from the shore, is not diffused through 
the whole globe, but terminates with the limits of the king’s 
dominions ; and it was easy, from the great advantage of such 
a superior situation, for a prince to bring under his obedience 
whatever country lay within the attraction of that magnet. 

When the stone is put parallel to the plane of the horizon, 
the island standeth still ; for, in that case, the extremities of it 
being at equal distance from the earth, act with equal force, 
the one in drawing downward, the other in pulling upward, and 
consequently no motion can ensue. 

This loadstone is under the care of certain astronomers, who, 
from time to time, give it such positions as the monarch directs. 
They spend the greatest part of their lives in observing the 
celestial bodies, which they do by the assistance of glasses, far 
excelling ours in goodness. For although their largest tele- 
scopes do not exceed three feet in length, they magnify much 
more than those of a hundred with us, and show the stars with 
greater clearness. This advantage hath enabled them to extend 
their discoveries much further than our astronomers in Europe. 


A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA 


141 


The king would be the most absolute prince in the universe, 
if he could but prevail on a ministry to join with him ; but 
those having their estates below on the continent, would never 
consent to the enslaving of their country. 

If any town should engage in rebellion, fall into violent 
factions, or refuse to pay the usual tribute, the king hath two 
methods of reducing it to obedience. The mildest course is by 
keeping the island hovering over such a town, and the lands 
about it, whereby he can deprive them of the benefit of the sun 
and the rain, and consequently afflict the inhabitants with 
dearth and diseases. And if the crime deserve it, they are at 
the same time pelted from above with great stones, against 
which they have no defence but by creeping into cellars or 
caves, while the roofs of their houses are beaten to pieces. But 
if they still continue obstinate, or offer to raise insurrections, 
he proceeds to the last remedy, by letting the island drop di- 
rectly upon their heads, which makes a universal destruction 
both of houses and men. However, this is an extremity 
to which the prince is seldom driven, and the kings of this 
country have been always averse from executing so terrible an 
action. For, if the town intended to be destroyed should have 
in it any tall rocks, or if it abound in high spires, or pillars of 
stone, these might endanger the bottom of the island, which, 
although it consists, as I have said, of adamant, might happen 
to crack. Of this the people are well apprised, and understand 
how far to carry their obstinacy, where their liberty or property 
are concerned. And the king, when he is highest provoked 
and most determined to press a city to rubbish, orders the 
island to descend with great gentleness, out of a pretence of 
tenderness to his people, but indeed for fear of breaking the 
adamantine bottom, in which case, it is the opinion of all their 
philosophers, that the loadstone could no longer hold it up, and 
the whole mass would fall to the ground. 


CHAPTER III 


The Author leaves Laputa, is conveyed to Balnibarbi, arrives at the 
Metropolis — A Description of the Metropolis and the Country 
adjoining — The Author hospitably received by a great Lord 
— His conversation with that Lord. 

Although I cannot say that I was ill treated in this island, 
yet I must confess I thought myself too much neglected, and, 
after having seen all the curiosities of the island, I was very 
desirous to leave it, being heartily weary of those people. They 
were indeed excellent in two sciences for which I have great 
esteem ; but at the same time so abstracted and involved in 
speculation that I never met with such disagreeable companions. 
I conversed chiefly with women, tradesmen, flappers, and court- 
pages, during two months of my abode here ; by which at last 
I rendered myself extremely contemptible ; yet these were 
usually the only people from whom I could ever receive a 
reasonable answer. 

There was however a great lord at court, nearly related to 
the king, and for that reason used with respect, though uni- 
versally reckoned the most ignorant and stupid person among 
them. He had performed many eminent services for the crown, 
had great natural and acquired parts, adorned with integrity 
and honor ; but so ill an ear for music that his detractors re- 
ported that he had been often known to beat time in the wrong 
place ; neither could his tutors, without extreme difficulty, teach 
him to demonstrate the most easy proposition in the mathematics. 
He was pleased to show me many marks of favor, often did me 

143 


A VO Y AGE TO BALNIBARBI 


143 


the honor of a visit, desired to be informed in the affairs of 
Europe, the laws and customs, the manners and learning of the 
several countries where I had travelled. He listened to me with 
great attention, and made very wise observations on all I spoke. 
He had two flappers attending him, but never made use of them, 
except at court, and in visits of ceremony, and would always 
command them to withdraw when we were alone together. 

I entreated this illustrious person to intercede in my behalf 
with his majesty for leave to depart, which he accordingly did. 

On the 16th day of February I took leave of his majesty and 
the court. The king made me a present to the value of about 
two hundred pounds English, and my protector, his kinsman, 
as much more, together with a letter of recommendation to a 
friend of his in Lagado, the metropolis. The island being then 
hovering over a mountain about two miles from it, I was let 
down from the lowest gallery in the same manner as I had been 
taken up. 

The continent, as far as it is subject to the monarch of Flying 
Island, passes under the general name of Balniharhi ; and the 
metropolis, as I said before, is called Lagado. I felt some 
little satisfaction in finding myself on firm ground. I walked 
to the city without any concern, being clad like one of the 
natives, and sufficiently instructed to converse with them. I 
soon found out the person’s house to whom I was recommended, 
presented my letter from his friend, the grandee in the island, 
and was received with much kindness. This great lord, whose 
name was Munodi, ordered me an apartment in his own house, 
where I continued during my stay, and was entertained in a 
most hospitable manner. 

The next morning after my arrival he took me in his 
chariot to see the town, which is about half the bigness of 
London ; but the houses were very strangely built, and most 
of them out of repair. The people in the streets walked fast, 
looked wild, their eyes fixed, and were generally in rags. We 


144 


GULLIVER'S TRAVELS 


passed through one of the town gates, and went about three 
miles into the country, where I saw many laborers working' 
with several sorts of tools in the ground, but was not able to 
conjecture what they were about ; neither did I observe any 
expectation either of corn or grass, although the soil appeared' 
to be excellent. I could not forbear surprise at these odd appear- 
ances, both in town and country ; and I made bold to desire 
my conductor that he would be pleased to explain to me what 
could be meant by so many busy heads, hands and faces, both 
in the streets and the fields, because I did not discover any 
good effects they produced ; but, on the contrary, I never knew 
a soil so unhappily cultivated, houses so ill contrived and so 
ruinous, or a people whose countenances and habit expressed so 
much misery and want. 

This lord Munodi was a person of the first rank, and had been 
some years governor of Lagado ; but, by a cabal of ministers, 
was discharged. When we returned to his palace he asked me 
how I liked the building, what absurdities I observed, and 
what quarrel I had with the dress and looks of his domestics ? 
This he might safely do ; because everything about him was 
magnificent, regular and polite. I answered that his excellency’s 
prudence, quality, and fortune, had exempted him from those 
defects which folly and beggary had produced in others. He 
said if I would go with him to his country house, about twenty 
miles distant, where his estate lay, there would be more leisure 
for this kind of conversation. I told his excellency that I was 
entirely at his disposal ; and accordingly we set out next 
morning. 

During our journey, he made me observe the several methods 
used by farmers in managing their lands ; which to me were 
wholly unaccountable ; for, except in some very few places, I 
could not discover one ear of corn or blade of grass. But in 
three hours’ travelling, the scene was wholly altered ; we came 
into a most beautiful country j farmers’ houses, at small dis- 


A VOYAGE TO BALNIBARBI 


145 


tances, neatly built ; the fields enclosed, containing vineyards, 
corn-grounds, and meadows. Neither do I remember to have 
seen a more delightful prospect. His excellency observed my 
countenance to clear up ; he told me, with a sigh, that there 
his estate began, and would continue the same till we should 
come to his house. That his countrymen ridiculed and de- 
spised him for managing his aftairs no better, and for setting so 
ill an example to the kingdom ; which, however, was followed 
by very few, such as were old and wilful, and weak, like 
himself. 

We came at length to the house, which was indeed a noble 
structure, built according to the best rules of ancient architec- 
ture. The fountains, gardens, walks, avenues, and groves, were 
all disposed with exact judgment and taste. I gave due praises 
to everything I saw, whereof his excellency took not the least 
notice till after supper ; when, there being no third companion, 
he told me, with a very melancholy air, that he doubted he 
must throw down his houses in town and country, to rebuild 
them after the present mode ; destroy all his plantations, and 
cast others into such a form as modern usage required, and give 
the same directions to all his tenants, unless he would submit 
to incur the censure of pride, singularity, affectation, ignorance, 
and caprice. That the amazement I appeared to be in would 
cease or diminish, when he had informed me of some particu- 
lars which, probably, I never heard of at court ; the people 
there being too much taken up in their own speculations to 
have regard to what passed here below. 

The sum of his discourse was to this effect : That about forty 
years ago certain persons went up to Laputa, either upon busi- 
ness or diversion, and after five months, came back with a very 
little smattering in mathematics, but full of volatile spirits 
acquired in that airy region. That these persons, upon their 
return, began to dislike the management of everything below, 
and fell into schemes of putting all arts, sciences, and mechanics. 


146 


GULLIVER^ S TRAVELS 


upon a new footing. To this end they procured a royal patent 
for erecting an academy of projectors in Lagado ; and the 
humor prevailed so strongly among the people, that there is 
not a town of any consequence in the kingdom without such 
an academy. 

In these colleges the professors contrive new rules and 
methods of agriculture and building, and new instruments and 
tools for all trades and manufactures ; whereby they undertake 
that one man shall do the work of ten ; a palace may be built 
in a week of materials so durable as to last forever without 
repairing ; all the fruits of the earth shall come to maturity at 
whatever season we think fit to choose, and increase a hundred- 
fold more than they do at present ; with innumerable other 
happy proposals. The only inconvenience is, that none of 
these projects are yet brought to perfection : and, in the 
meantime, the whole country lies miserably waste, the houses 
in ruins, and the people without food or clothes. As for him- 
self, being not of an enterprising spirit, he was content to go on 
in the old forms, to live in the houses his ancestors had built, 
and act as they did. That some few other persons of quality 
had done the same, but were looked on with an eye of con- 
tempt and ill-will, as enemies to art, ignorant, and preferring 
their own ease and sloth before the general improvement of 
their country. 

His lordship added, that he would not, by any further par- 
ticulars, prevent the pleasure I should certainly take in 
viewing the grand academy, whither he was resolved I should 
go. He only desired me to observe a ruined building upon 
the side of a mountain about three miles distant, of which he 
gave me this account : That he had a very convenient mill within 
half a mile of his house, turned by a current from a large river, 
and sufficent for his own family, as well as a great number of 
his tenants. That about seven years ago a club of those pro- 
jectors came to him with proposals to destroy this mill, and 


A VOYAGE TO BALNIBARBl 


147 


build another on the side of that mountain, where must be cut 
a repository for water. The water was to be conveyed up by 
pipes and engines to supply the mill ; and thence descending a 
declivity, it would turn the mill with half the current of a river 
whose course is more upon a level. He said that being pressed 
by many of his friends, he complied with the proposal j and 
after employing a hundred men for two years the work mis- 
carried, the projectors went off, laying the blame entirely upon 
him, railing at him ever since, and putting others upon the 
same experiment, with equal assurance of success, as well as 
equal disappointment. 

In a few days we came back to town ; and his excellency, 
considering the bad character he had in the academy, would 
not go with me himself, but recommended me to a friend of his, 
to bear me company thither. My lord was pleased to repre- 
sent me.as a great admirer of projects, and a person of much 
curiosity. 


CHAPTER IV 


The Author permitted to see the Grand Academy of Lagado — The 
Academy described — The Arts wherein the Professors employ 
themselves. 

The Laputian academy is not a single building, but a con- 
tinuation of several houses on both sides of a street. 

I was received very kindly by the warden, and went for 
many days to the academy. Every room hath in it one or 
more projectors ; and, I believe, I could not have visited fewer 
than five hundred rooms. 

The first man I saw was of a meagre aspect, with sooty 
hands and face, his hair and beard long, ragged, and singed in 
several places. His clothes, shirt, and skin were all of the 
same color. He had been eight years upon a project for ex- 
tracting sunbeams out of cucumbers, which were to be put into 
vials hermetically sealed, and let out to warm the air in raw, 
inclement summers. He told me he did not doubt, in eight 
years more, he should be able to supply the governor’s gardens 
with sunshine at a reasonable rate ; but he complained that his 
money was low, and entreated me to give him something as an 
encouragement to ingenuity, especially since this had been a 
very dear season for cucumbers. 

I saw another at work to calcine ice into gunpowder, w^ho 
likewise showed me a treatise he had written concerning tlie 
malleability of fire, which he intended to publish. 

There was a most ingenious architect, who had contrived a 
new method for building houses, by beginning at the roof, and 

148 


A VOYAGE TO BALNIBARBI 


149 


working downward to the foundation ; which he justified to me 
by the like practice of those two prudent insects, the bee and 
the spider. 

There was a man born blind, who had several apprentices in 
his own condition. Their employment was to mix colors for 
painters, which their master taught them to distinguish by feel- 
ing and smelling. It was indeed my misfortune to find them 
at that time not very perfect in their lessons, and the professor 
himself happened to be generally mistaken. This artist is 
much encouraged and esteemed by the whole fraternity. 

In another apartment I was highly pleased with a projector 
who had found a device for ploughing the ground with hogs, to 
save the 'charges of ploughs, cattle, and labor. The method is 
this : In an acre of ground you bury, six inches apart, and 
eight deep, a quantity of acorns, dates, chestnuts, and other 
nuts or vegetables, whereof those animals are fondest ; then 
you drive six hundred or more of them into the field, where in 
a few days, they will root up the whole ground in search of 
their food, and make it fit for sowing. It is true, upon experi- 
ment, they found the charge and trouble very great, and they 
had little or no crop. However, it is not doubted that this in- 
vention may be capable of great improvement. 

I went into another room where the walls and ceiling were 
all hung round with cobwebs, except a narrow passage for the 
projector to go in and out. At my entrance he called aloud to 
me not to disturb his webs. He lamented the fatal mistake 
the world had been so long in, of using silk- worms, while 
we had such plenty of domestic insects, who infinitely excelled 
the former, because they understood how to weave as well as 
spin. And he proposed further that, by employing spiders, the 
charge of dyeing silk should be wholly saved ; whereof I was 
fully convinced when he showed me a vast number of flies, 
most beautifully colored, wherewith he fed his spiders, assuring 
us that the webs would take a tincture from them ; and as he 


150 


GULLIVER’’ S TRAVELS 


had them of all hues, he hoped to fit everybody’s fancy, as soon 
as he could find proper food for the flies, of certain gums, oils, 
and other glutinous matter, to give strength and consistence to 
the threads.® 

I visited many other apartments, but shall not trouble my 
reader with all the curiosities I observed. 

I had hitherto seen only one side of the academy, the other 
being appropriated to the advancers of speculative learning, of 
whom I shall say something, when I have mentioned one illus- 
trious person more, who is called among them, “ The universal 
artist.” He told us he had been thirty years employing his 
thoughts for the improvement of human life. He had two 
large rooms full of wonderful curiosities, and fifty men at work. 
Some were condensing air into a dry, tangible substance ; others 
softening marble for pillows and pin-cushions ; others petrifying 
the hoofs of a living horse, to preserve them from foundering.® 
The artist himself was at that time busy upon two great de- 
signs ; the first, to sow land with chaff, wherein he afiirmed 
the true germinal virtue to be contained, as he demonstrated 
by several experiments, which I was not skilful enough to com- 
prehend. The other was by a certain composition of gums, 
minerals, and vegetables, outwardly applied, to prevent the 
growth of wool upon two young lambs; and he hoped, in a 
reasonable time, to propagate the breed of naked sheep all over 
the kingdom. 

We crossed a walk to the other part of the academy, where, 
as I have already said, the projectors in speculative learning 
resided. 

The first professor I saw was in a very large room, with forty 
pupils about him. After salutation, observing me to look 
earnestly upon a frame, which took up the greatest part of both 
the length and breadth of the room, he said, he was employed in 
a project for improving speculative knowledge, by mechanical 
operations. The world would soon be sensible of its usefulness ; 


A VOYAGE TO BALNIBARBI 


151 


and he flattered himself, that a more noble, exalted though! 
never sprang in any other man’s head. Every one knew how 
laborious the usual method is of attaining to arts and sciences; 
whereas, by his contrivance, the most ignorant person might 
write books in philosophy, poetry, politics, law, mathematics, 
and theology, without the least assistance from genius or study. 
He then led me to the frame, about the sides whereof all his 
pupils stood in ranks. It was twenty feet square, placed in 
the middle of the room. The surface was composed of bits of 
wood, all linked together by slender wires. These bits of wood 
were covered, with paper pasted on them ; and on these papers 
were written all the words of their language, in their several 
moods, tenses, and declensions, but without any order. The 
professor then desired me to observe, for he was going to set 
his engine at work. The pupils, at his command, took each of 
them hold of an iron handle, whereof there were forty fixed 
round the edges of the frame, and giving them a sudden turn, 
the whole disposition of the words was entirely changed. He 
then commanded thirty-six of the lads to read the several lines 
softly, as they appeared upon the frame ; and where they 
found three or four words together that might make part of a 
sentence, they dictated to the four remaining boys, who were 
scribes. This work was repeated three or four times, and, at 
every turn, the engine was so contrived that the words shifted 
into new places. 

Six hours a day the young students were employed in this 
labor; and the professor showed me several volumes, already 
collected, of broken sentences, which he intended to piece to- 
gether, and out of those rich materials, to give the world a com- 
plete body of all arts and sciences ; which, however, might be 
still improved, and much expedited, if the public would raise a 
fund for making and employing five hundred such frames in 
Lagado, and oblige the managers to contribute in common their 
several collections. 


152 


GULLIVER^S TRAVELS 


He assured me that this invention had employed all his 
thoughts from his youth ; that he had emptied the whole vocab- 
ulary into his frame, and made the strictest computation of 
the general proportion there is in books between the numbers 
of particles, nouns, and verbs, and other parts of speech. 

I made my humblest acknowledgment to this illustrious person 
for his great communicativeness ; and promised, if ever I had 
the good fortune to return to my native country, that I would 
do him justice, as the sole inventor of this wonderful machine. 

We next went to the school of language, where three professors 
sat in consultation upon improving that of their own country. 

The first project was to shorten discourse, by cutting poly- 
syllables into one, and leaving out verbs and participles, because, 
in I’eality, all things imaginable are but nouns. 

The other was a scheme for entirely abolishing all words 
whatsoever, and this was urged as a great advantage in point 
of health as well as brevity. For it is plain that every word 
we speak is in some degree a diminution of our lungs by corro- 
sion, and, consequently, contributes to the shortening of our 
lives. An expedient was therefore offered, that, since words 
are only names for things, it would be more convenient for all 
men to carry about them such things as were necessary to ex- 
press the particular business they are to discourse on. And 
this invention would certainly have taken place, to the great 
ease as well as health of the subject, if the women, in conjunc- 
tion with the vulgar and illiterate, had not threatened to raise 
a rebellion, unless they might be allowed the liberty to speak 
with their tongues, after the manner of their ancestors; such 
constant irreconcilable enemies to science are the common people. 

However, many of the most learned and wise adhere to the 
new scheme of expressing themselves by things, which hath 
only this inconvenience attending it, that if a man’s business be 
very great and of various kinds, he must be obliged, in pro- 
portion, to carry a great bundle of things upon his back, unless 


A VOYAGE TO BALNIBARBI 


153 


he can afford one or two strong servants to attend him. I have 
often beheld two of those sages almost sinking under the weight 
of their packs, like pedlers among us ; who, when they met in 
the street, would lay down their loads, open their sacks, and 
hold conversation for an hour together, then put up their imple- 
ments, help each other to resume their burthens, and take their 
leave. 

But for short conversations, a man may carry implements in 
his pockets, and under his arms, enough to supply him : and in 
his house he cannot be at a loss. Therefore the room where 
company meet who practise this art is full of all things, ready 
at hand, requisite to furnish matter for this kind of artificial 
converse. 

Another great advantage proposed by this invention was 
that it would serve as a universal language, to be understood 
in all civilized nations, whose goods and utensils are generally 
of the same kind, or nearly resembling, so that their uses might 
easily be comprehended. And thus ambassadors would be 
qualified to treat with foreign princes, or ministers of state, 
to whose tongues they were utter strangers. 

I was at the mathematical school, where the master taught 
his pupils after a method scarce imaginable to us in Europe. 
The proposition and demonstration were fairly written on a 
thin wafer, with ink composed of a cephalic® tincture. This 
tlie student was to swallow' upon a fasting stomach, and for 
three days following ate nothing but bread and water. As the 
w'afer digested the tincture mounted to his brain, bearing the 
])roposition along with it. But the success hath not hitherto 
been satisfactory, partly by some error in the quantity or com- 
position, and partly by the perverseness of lads, to whom 
this bolus is so nauseous that they generally steal aside and dis- 
charge it upward before it can operate ; neither have they been 
yet persuaded to use so long an abstinence from their usual 
food as the prescription requires. 


CHAPTER V 


The Author leaves Lagado — Arrives at Maldonada — No ship 
ready — He takes a short voyage to Glubbdubdribb — His 
reception by the Governor. 

I SAW nothing in this country that could invite me to a longer 
continuance, and began to think of returning home to England. 

The continent, of which this kingdom is a part, extends it- 
self, as I have reason to believe, eastward to that unknown 
tract of America westward of California, and north to the 
Pacific Ocean, which is not above a hundred and fifty miles 
from Lagado ; where there is a good port, and much commerce 
with the great island of Luggnagg, situated to the northwest, 
about 29 degrees north latitude, and 140 longitude. This island 
of Luggnagg stands southeastwards of Japan, about a hun- 
dred leagues distant. There is a strict alliance between the 
Japanese emperor and the king of Luggnagg, which affords fre- 
quent opportunities of sailing from one island to the other. I 
determined therefore to direct my course this way, in order to 
return to Europe. I hired two mules, with a guide, to show me 
the way, and carry my small baggage. I took leave of my noble 
protector, who had shown me so much favor, and made me a 
generous present at my departure. 

My journey was without any accident or adventure worth 
relating. When I arrived at the port of Maldonada (for so it 
is called) there was no ship in the harbor bound for Luggnagg, 
nor like to be in some time. I soon fell into some acquaint- 
ance, and was very hospitably received. A gentleman of dis- 

154 


A VOYAGE TO GLUBBDUBDRIBB 


155 


tinctioii said to me, that since the ships bound for Luggnagg 
could not be ready in less than a month, it might be no dis- 
agreeable amusement for me to take a trip to the little island 
of Glubbdubdribb, about five leagues oft* to the southwest. He 
offered himself and a friend to accompany me, and that I should 
be provided with a convenient vessel for the voyage. 

Glubbdubdribb, as nearly as I can interpret the word, signi- 
fies the island of sorcerers, or magicians. 

It is about one-third as large as the Isle of Wight,® and ex- 
tremely fruitful ; it is governed by the head of a certain tribe, 
who are all magicians. This governor has a noble palace, and 
a park of about three thousand acres, surrounded by a wall of 
hewn stone twenty feet high. 

The governor and his family are served and attended by 
domestics of a kind somewhat unusual. By his skill in nec- 
romancy, he has a power of calling whom he pleases from the 
dead, and commanding their services for twenty-four hours, but 
no longer ; nor can he call the same persons up again in less 
than three months, except upon very extraordinary occasions. 

When we arrived at the island, which was about eleven in 
the morning, one of the gentlemen who accompanied me went 
to the governor, and desired admittance for a stranger. This 
was immediately granted, and we all three entered the gate of 
the palace between two row’s of guards, armed and dressed 
after a very peculiar manner, and having something in their 
countenances that made my fiesh creep with a horror I cannot 
express. We passed through several apartments, between ser- 
vants of the same sort, ranked on each side as before, till we 
came to the chamber of presence, where, after three profound 
obeisances and a few general questions, we were permitted to 
sit on three stools, near the lowest step of his highness’ throne. 
He understood the language of Balnibarbi, although it was 
different from that of his island. He desired me to give him 
some account of my travels ; and to let me see that I should be 


156 


GULLIVER’S TRAVELS 


treated without ceremony, he dismissed all his attendants with 
a turn of his finger ; at which to my great astonishment, they 
vanished in an instant, like visions in a dream when we awake 
on a sudden. 

I could not recover myself, till the governor assured me that 
I should receive no hurt ; and observing my two companions 
to be under no concern, who had been often entertained in the 
same manner, I began to take courage, and related to his high- 
ness a short history of my several adventures ; yet not without 
some hesitation, and frequently looking behind me to the place 
where I had seen those domestic spectres. I had the honor to 
dine with the governor, where a new set of ghosts served the 
meat, and waited at table. I now observed myself to be less 
terrified than 1 had been in the morning. I stayed till sunset, 
but humbly desired his highness to excuse me for not accepting 
his invitation to lodge in the palace. My two friends and I lay 
at a private house in the town adjoining, which is the capital 
of this little island ; and the next morning we returned to pay 
our duty to the governor, as he was pleased to command us. 

After this manner we continued in the island for ten days, 
most part of every day with the governor, and at night in our 
lodging. I soon grew so familiarized to the sight of spirits, 
that, after the third or fourth time, they gave me no emotion 
at all ; or, if I had any apprehensions left, my curiosity pre- 
vailed over them. For his highness the governor ordered me 
to call up whatever persons I would choose to name, and in 
whatever numbers, among all the dead from the beginning of 
the world to the present time, and command them to answer 
any questions I should think fit to ask ; with this condition, 
that my questions must be confined within the compass of the 
times they lived in. And one thing I might depend upon, 
that they would certainly tell me truth, for lying was a talent 
of no use in the lower world. 

I made my humble acknowledgments to his highness for so 


A VOYAGE TO GLUBBDUBDRIBB 


157 


gi’eat a favor. We were in a chamber, whence there was a 
fair prospect into the park. And because my first inclination 
was to be entertained with scenes of pomp and magnificence, I 
desired to see Alexander the Great at the head of his army, 
just after the battle of Arbela° ; which, upon a motion of the 
governor’s finger, immediately appeared in a large field, under 
the window where we stood. 

I desired that the senate of Rome might appear before me 
in one large chamber, and a modern legislature, in counterview, 
in another. The first seemed to be an assembly of heroes and 
demi-gods ; the other, a knot of pedlers, pickpockets, highway- 
men, and iDullies. 

It would be tedious to trouble the reader with relating what 
vast numbers of illustrious persons were called up, to gratify 
that insatiable desire I had to see the world in every period of 
antiquity placed before me. I chiefly fed mine eyes with be- 
holding the destroyers of tyrants and usurpers, and the restorers 
of liberty to oppressed and injured nations. 

Having a desire to see those ancients who were most renowned 
for wit and learning, I set apart one day on purpose. I pro- 
posed that Homer and Aristotle might appear at the head of 
all their commentators ; but these were so numerous that some 
hundreds were forced to attend in the court and outward rooms 
of the palace. I knew, and could distinguish the two heroes 
^ at first sight, not only fi-om the crowd, but from each other. 
Homer was the taller and comelier person of the two, walked 
very erect for one of his age, and his eyes were the most quick 
and piercing I ever beheld.® Aristotle stooped much, and made 
use of a staff. His visage was meagre, his hair lank and thin, 
and his voice hollow. I soon discovered that both of them 
were perfect strangers to the rest of the company, and had 
never seen or heard of them before. And I had a whisper from 
a ghost, who shall be nameless, that the commentators always 
kept in the most distant quarters from their principals, in the 


158 


GULLIVER'S TRAVELS 


lower world, through a consciousness of shame and guilt, be- 
cause they had so horribly misrepresented the meaning of those 
authors to posterity. 

I spent five days in conversing with many others of the 
ancient learned ; but my final three days, I employed in seeing 
some of the modern dead, who had made the greatest figure, 
for two or three hundred years past, in our own and other 
countries of Europe ; and having been always a great admirer 
of old illustrious families, I desired the goveimor would call up 
a dozen or two kings, counts, marquises, dukes, earls, and the 
like. And I confess, it was not without some pleasure, that I 
found myself able to trace the particular features, by which 
certain families are distinguished, up to their originals. I could 
plainly discover whence one family derives a long chin ; why 
a second hath abounded with knaves for two generations; 
why a third happened to be crack-brained, and a fourth to be 
sharpers; how cruelty, falsehood, and cowardice grew to be 
characteristics by which certain families are distinguished, as 
much as by their coat of arms. 


CHAPTER VI 


The Author’s return to Maldonada — Sails to the Kingdom of 
Luggnagg — The Author confined — He is sent for to Court 
— The manner of his Admittance — The King’s great Lenity 
to his Subjects. 

The day of our departure being come, I took leave of his 
highness, the governor of Glubbdubdribb, and returned with my 
two companions to Maldonada, where, after a fortnight’s wait- 
ing, a ship was ready to sail for Luggnagg. The two gentle- 
men, and some others, were so generous and kind as to furnish 
me with provisions, and see me on board. I was a month in 
this voyage. We had one violent storm, and were under a 
necessity of steering westward to get into the trade wind. On 
the 21st of April, 1708, we sailed into the river of Clumegnig, 
which is a seaport town at the southeast point of Luggnagg. 
We cast anchor within a league of the town, and made a signal 
for a pilot. Two of them came on board in less than half an 
hour, by whom we were guided betw’een certain shoals and 
rocks, which are very dangerous in the passage, to a large 
basin, where a fleet may ride in safety within a cable’s length 
of the town wall. 

Some of our sailors had informed the pilots that I was a 
stranger and a great traveller ; whereof these gave notice to a 
custom-house officer, by whom I was examined very strictly 
upon my landing. This officer spoke to me in the language of 
Balnibarbi, which is generally understood in that town, es- 
pecially by seamen and those employed in the customs. I told 

159 


160 


GULLIVER'S TRAVELS 


the officer, that having been shipwrecked on the coast of Bal- 
nibarbi, and cast on a rock, I was received up into Laputa, or 
the Flying Island (of which he had often heard) and was now 
endeavoring to get to Japan, where I might find a way to re- 
turn to my own country. The officer said I must be confined 
till he could receive orders from court ; for which he would 
write immediately, and hoped to receive an answer in a fort- 
night. I was carried to a convenient lodging, with a sentry 
placed at the door; however, I had the liberty of a large 
garden, and was treated with humanity enough, being main- 
tained all the time at the king’s charge. I was visited by several 
persons, chiefiy out of curiosity, because it was reported that I 
came from countries very remote, of which they had never heard. 

I hired a young man, who came in the same ship, to be an in- 
terpreter. He was a native of Luggnagg, but had lived some 
years at Maldonada, and was a perfect master of both languages. 
By his assistance I was able to hold a conversation with those 
who came to visit me ; but this consisted only of their questions, 
and my answers. 

The despatch came from court about the time we expected. 
It contained a warrant for conducting me and my retinue to 
Trildrogdrih, by a party of ten horse. All my retinue was 
that poor lad for an interpreter, whom I persuaded into my 
service ; and, at my humble request, we had each of us a mule 
to ride on. A messenger was despatched half a day’s journey 
before us to give the king notice of my approach, and to desire 
that his majesty would please to appoint a day and hour when 
it would be his gracious pleasure that I might have the honor 
to lick the dust before his footstool. This is the court style, 
and I found it to be more than a matter of form. For, upon 
my admittance, two days after my arrival, I was commanded to 
crawl on my stomach, and lick tlie floor as I advanced ; but, 
on account of my being a stranger, care was taken to have it 
swept so clean that the dust was not offensive. However, this, 


A VOYAGE TO LUGGNAGG 


161 


was a peculiar grace, not allowed to any but persons of the 
highest rank, when they desire an admittance. Nay, some- 
times the floor is strewed with dust on purpose, when the 
person to be admitted happens to have powerful enemies at 
court. And I have seen a great lord with his mouth so 
crammed that when he had crept to the proper distance from 
the throne he was not able to speak a word. Neither is there 
any remedy, because it is not allowed for those who receive an 
audience to spit or wipe their mouths in his majesty’s presence. 

There is, indeed, another custom, which I cannot altogether 
approve of ; when the king hath a mind to put any of his nobles 
to death in a gentle, indulgent manner, he commands the floor 
to be strewed with a certain brown powder of a deadly compo- 
sition, which, being licked up, infallibly kills the person who 
takes it into his mouth in twenty-four hours. But in justice to 
this prince’s great clemency, and the care he hath for his sub- 
jects’ lives, it must be mentioned for his honor that strict orders 
are given to have the infected parts of the floor well washed 
after every such execution ; which, if his domestics neglect, they 
are in danger of incurring his royal displeasure. I myself heard 
him give directions that one of his pages should be wliipped, 
whose turn it was to give notice about washing the floor after 
an execution, but maliciously had omitted it ; by which neglect 
a young lord coming to an audience was unfortunately poisoned, 
although the king at that time had no design against his life. 
But this good prince was so gracious as to forgive the poor 
page his whipping, upon promise that he would do so no more, 
without special orders. 

To return from this digression ; when I had crept within four 
yards of the throne I raised myself gently upon my knees, and 
then, striking my forehead seven times against the ground, I 
pronounced the following words, as they had been taught me 
the night before : “ Inchpling gloffthrohb squut scrumm hlhiop 
mlashnalt zivin tnodbalkuff hslhiophad gurdlubh asht.^’ 

M 


162 


GULLIVER^ S TRAVELS 


This is the compliment, established by the laws of the land, 
for all persons admitted to the king’s presence. It may be 
rendered into English thus : “ May your celestial majesty out- 
live the sun eleven moons and a half ! ” 

To this the king returned some answer, which, although I 
could not understand, yet I replied as I had been directed : 
“ Fiuft drin yalerick dwuldom prastrad mirpush,^^ which 
properly signifies, “ My tongue is in the mouth of my friend ; ” 
and by this expression was meant that I desired leave to bring 
my interpreter ; whereupon the young man already mentioned 
was introduced, by whose intervention I answered as many 
questions as his majesty could put in above an hour. 

The king was much delighted with my company, and ordered 
his high chamberlain to appoint a lodging in the court for me 
and my interpreter, with a daily allowance for my table, and a 
large purse of gold for my common expenses. 


CHAPTER VII 


The Luggnaggians commended— A particular Description of the 
Struldbrugs, with many Conversations between the Author 
and some eminent Persons upon that subject — The Author 
leaves Luggnagg, and sails to Japan— Thence he goes in a 
Dutch ship to Amsterdam, and from Amsterdam to England. 

The Luggnaggians are a polite and generous people ; and 
although they are not without some share of that pride which 
is peculiar to all eastern countries, yet they show themselves 
courteous to strangers, especially such who are countenanced by 
the court. 

One day, in much good company, I was asked by a person of 
quality whether I had seen any of their struldbrugs^ or immor- 
tals. I said I had not, and desired he would explain to me 
what he meant by such an appellation, applied to a mortal 
creature. He told me that sometimes, though very rarely, a 
child happened to be born in a family with a red circular spot 
in the forehead, directly over the left eyebrow, which was an 
infallible mark that it should never die. The spot, as he de- 
scribed it, was about the compass of a silver threepence, but in 
the course of time grew larger and changed its color ; for at 
twelve years old it became green, so continued till twenty-five, 
then turned to a deep blue ; at forty-five it grew coal-black 
and as large as an English shilling, but never admitted any 
further alteration. He said these births were so rare that he 
did not believe there could be above eleven hundred struldbrugs, 
of both sexes, in the whole kingdom, of which he computed 

163 


164 


GULLIVER'^S TRAVELS 


about fifty in the metropolis, and, among the rest, a young girl 
born about three years ago ; that these productions were not 
peculiar to any family, but a mere effect of chance, and the 
children of the struldbrugs themselves were equally mortal with 
tlie rest of the people. 

I freely own myself to have been struck with inexpressible 
delight upon hearing this account : and the person who gave it 
me happening to understand the Balnibarbian language, which 
I spoke very well, I could not forbear breaking out into ex- 
pressions, perliaps a little too extravagant. I cried out, as in 
a rapture : “ Happy nation, where every child has at least a 
chance for being immortal ! Happy people, who enjoy so many 
living examples of ancient virtue, and have masters ready to in- 
struct them in the wisdom of all former ages ! But happiest, 
beyond all comparison, are those excellent struldbrugs, who, 
born exempt from that universal calamity of human nature, 
have their minds free and disengaged, without the weight and 
depression of spirits caused by the continual apprehension of 
death ! ” I mentioned my surprise, that I had not observed any 
of these illustrious persons at court ; the black spot on the fore- 
head being so remarkable a distinction, that I could not have 
easily overlooked it ; and it was impossible that his majesty, a 
most judicious prince, should not provide himself with a good 
number of such wise and able counsellors. I was determined, 
that his majesty having frequently offered me an establishment 
in this country, I would with great thankfulness accept the 
favor, and pass my life here in the conversation of those supe- 
rior beings, the struldbrugs, if they would please to admit me. 

The gentleman to whom I addressed my discourse, said to 
me, with a sort of smile, which usually ariseth from pity to the 
ignorant, that he was glad of any occasion to keep me among 
them, and desired my permission to explain to the company 
what I had spoke. He did so, and they talked together for 
some time in their own language, whereof I understood not a 


A VOYAGE TO LUGGNAGG 


165 


syllable, neither could I observe by their countenances what 
impression my discourse had made on them. After a short 
silence the same person told me that his friends were very much 
pleased with the judicious remarks I had made on the great 
happiness and advantages of immortal life, and they were de- 
sirous to know, in a particular manner, what scheme of living 
I should have formed if it had fallen to my lot to have been 
born a struldbrug. 

I answered that, had it been my good fortune to come into 
the world a sty-uldhrug, I would first resolve to procure myself 
riches ; in the pursuit of which, by thrift and management, I 
might reasonably expect, in about two hundred years, to be the 
wealthiest man in the kingdom. In the second place, I would, 
from my earliest youth, apply myself to the study of arts and 
sciences, by which I should arrive in time to excel all others in 
learning. Lastly, I would carefully record every action and 
event of consequence, impartially draw the characters of the 
several successions of princes and great ministers of state, with 
my own observations on every point. I would exactly set down 
the several changes in customs, language, fashions of dress, 
diet, and diversions. By all which acquirements, I should be 
a living treasury of knowledge and wisdom, and certainly be- 
come the oracle of the nation. 

I would never marry after threescore, but live in a hospit- 
able manner, yet still on the saving side. I would entertain 
myself in forming and directing the minds of hopeful young 
men, by convincing them, from my own remembrance, experience, 
and observation, fortified by numerous examples, of the useful- 
ness of virtue in public and private life. But my choice and 
constant companions should be a set of my own immortal 
brotherhood ; among whom I would choose a dozen from the 
most ancient, down to my own contemporaries. Where any of 
these wanted fortunes, I would provide them with convenient 
lodges round my own estate, and have some of them always at 


166 


GULLIVER^ S TRAVELS 


my table ; only mingling a few of the most valuable among you 
mortals. 

These struldbrugs and I would mutually communicate our 
observations and recollections through the course of time ; re- 
mark the several gradations by which corruption steals into the 
world, and oppose it, by giving perpetual warning and instruc- 
tion to mankind ; which added to the strong influence of our 
own example, would probably prevent that degeneracy of human 
nature, so justly complained of in all ages. 

Add to all this, the pleasure of seeing the various changes in 
the world ; ancient cities in ruins, and obscure villages become 
the seats of kings ; the ocean leaving one coast dry, and over- 
whelming another; the discovery of many countries yet un- 
known ; barbarity overrunning the politest nations, and the 
most barbarous become civilized. I should then see the dis- 
covery of perpetual motion, a medicine to cure all diseases, 
and other great inventions: 

I enlarged upon many topics, which the natural desire of 
endless life could easily furnish me with. When 1 had ended, 
and the sum of my discourse had been interpreted, as before, to 
the rest of the company, there was a good deal of talk among 
them in the language of the country, not without some laughter 
at my expense. At last, the same gentleman who had been my 
interpreter said, he was desired by the rest to set me right in 
a few mistakes, which I had fallen into. That this breed of 
struldbrugs was peculiar to their country, for there were no 
such people either in Balnibarbi or Japan, where he had the 
honor to be ambassador from his majesty : and it appeared 
from my astonishment when he had first mentioned the matter 
to me, that I received it as a thing wholly new, and scarcely to be 
credited. That in the two kingdoms above mentioned, dur- 
ing his residence, he had observed long life to be the universal 
desire of mankind. That whoever had one foot in the grave 
was sure to hold the other from it as strongly as he could. 


A VOYAGE TO LUGGNAGG 


167 


That the oldest had still hopes of living one day longer, and 
looked on death as the greatest evil, from which nature always 
prompted him to retreat. Only in this island of Luggnagg, 
the appetite for living was not so eager, from the continual 
example of the struldbriigs before their eyes. 

That the system of living contrived by me was unreasonable 
and unjust, because it supposed a perpetuity of youth, health, 
and vigor, which no man could be so foolish to hope, however 
extravagant he may be in his wishes. That the question there- 
fore was not, whether a man would choose to be always in the 
prime of youth, attended with prosperity and health ; but how 
he would pass a perpetual life under all the usual disadvantages 
which old age brings along with it. For although few men will 
avow their desires of being immortal, upon such hard conditions, 
yet ill the two kingdoms before mentioned, of Balnibarbi and 
Japan, he observed that every man desired to put olf death for 
some time longer, let it approach ever so late ; and he rarely 
heard of any man who died willingly, except he were incited by 
the extremity of grief or torture. And he appealed to me, 
whether in those countries I had travelled, as well as my own, 
I had not observed the same general disposition. 

After this preface he gave me a particular account of the 
struldbrugs among them. He said they commonly acted like 
mortals till about thirty years old ; after which, by degrees, 
they grew melancholy and dejected, till they came to fourscore. 
This he learned from their own confession ; for otherwise, there 
not being above two or three of that species born in an age, 
they were too few to form a general observation by. When 
they came to fourscore years, which is reckoned the extremity 
of living in this country, they had not only all the infirmities 
of other old men, but many nlore, which arose from the dread- 
ful prospect of never dying ; and whenever they see a funeral, 
they lament and repine that others have gone to a harbor 
of rest to which they themselves never can hope to arrive. 


168 


GULLIVER^ S TRAVELS 


They have no remembrance of anything but what they learned 
and observed in their youth and middle age, and even that is 
very imperfect. And for the truth or particulars of any fact, 
it is safer to depend on common tradition than upon their best 
recollections. 

As soon as they have completed the term of eighty years they 
are looked on as dead in law ; their heirs immediately succeed 
to their estates, only a small pittance is reserved for their sup- 
port ; and the poor ones are maintained at the public charge. 
After that period they are held incapable of any employment of 
trust or profit ; they cannot purchase land, or take leases ; 
neither are they allowed to be witnesses in any cause, either 
civil or criminal. 

At ninety they lose their teeth and hair ; they have at that 
age no distinction of taste, but eat and drink whatever they 
can get, without relish or appetite. The diseases they were 
subject to still continue. In talking they forget the common 
appellation of things, and the names of persons, even of those 
who are their nearest friends and relations. For the same 
reason they never can amuse themselves with reading, because 
their memory will not serve to carry them from the beginning 
of a sentence to the end. 

This was the account given me of the struldhrugs, as near as 
I can remember. I afterward saw five or six of different ages, 
the youngest not above two hiyidred years old, who were brought 
to me at several times by some of my friends ; but although 
they were told that I was a great traveller, and had seen all the 
world, they had not the least curiosity to ask me a question ; 
only desired I would give them a token of remembrance ; which 
is a modest way of begging, to avoid the law, that strictly for- 
bids it, because they are provided for by the public, although, 
indeed, with a very scanty allowance. 

When one of them is born it is reckoned ominous, and their 
birth is recorded very particularly ; so that you may know their 


A VOYAGE TO JAPAN 


169 


age by consulting the register. But the usual way of comput- 
ing how old they are is by asking them what kings or great 
persons they can remember, and then consulting history ; for 
infallibly the last prince in their mind did not begin his reign 
after they were fourscore years old. 

They were the most mortifying sight I ever beheld ; and 
they acquired an additional ghastliness, in proportion to their 
number of years. 

The reader will easily believe that, from what I had heard 
and seen, my keen appetite for perpetuity of life was much 
abated. I grew heartily ashamed of the pleasing visions I had 
formed ; and thought no tyrant could invent a death into which 
I would not run with pleasure from such a life. The king 
heard of all that had passed between me and my friends upon 
this occasion, and rallied me very pleasantly ; wishing I could 
send a couple of struldbrugs to my own country, to arm our 
people against the fear of death ; but this, it seems, is forbid- 
den by the fundamental laws of the kingdom, or else I should 
have been well content with the trouble and expense of trans- 
porting them. 

His majesty having often pressed me to accept some employ- 
ment in his court, and finding me absolutely determined to 
return to my native country, was pleased to give me liberty to 
depart ; and honored me with a letter of recommendation, 
under his own hand, to the Emperor of Japan. He likewise 
presented me with four hundred and forty-four large pieces of 
gold (this nation delighting in even numbers) and a red dia- 
mond, which I sold in England for eleven hundred pounds. 

On the 6th of May, 1709, I took a solemn leave of his 
majesty and all my friends. This prince was so gracious as to 
order a guard to conduct me to Glanguenstald, which is a royal 
port to the southwest part of the island. In six days I found 
a vessel ready to carry me to Japan, and spent fifteen days in 
the voyage. We landed at a small port town called Xamoschi, 


170 


G ULLl VER'S TEA VELS 


situated on the southeast part of Japan. At landing I sliowed 
the custom-house officers my letter from the King of Luggnagg 
to his imperial majesty. The magistrates of the town, hearing 
of my letter, provided me with carriages and servants, and bore 
my charges to Tokio. There I delivered my letter, which was 
opened with great ceremony, and explained to the emperor by 
an interpreter; who then gave me notice, by his majesty’s 
order, that I should signify my request, and whatever it were, 
it should be granted, for the sake of his royal brother of Lugg- 
nagg. This interpreter was a person employed to transact 
affairs with the Hollanders. He soon conjectured, by my 
countenance, that I was a European, and therefore repeated his 
majesty’s commands in Dutch, which he spoke perfectly well. 
I answered that I was a merchant, shipwrecked in a very remote 
country. Thence I had travelled by sea and land to Luggnagg, 
and then took shipping for Japan, where I hoped to get an op- 
portunity of returning to Europe. I therefore most humbly 
entreated his royal favor, to give order that I should be con- 
ducted in safety to Nagasaki. Some troops being at that time 
on their march thither, the commanding officer had orders to 
convey me safe to that city. 

On the 9th day of June, 1709, I arrived at Nagasaki, after 
a very long and troublesome journey. I soon fell into the com- 
pany of some Dutch sailors belonging to the Amboy na, of 
Annsterdam, a stout ship of four hundred and fifty tons. I had 
lived long in Holland, pursuing my studies at Leyden, and I 
spoke Dutch well. I would have given the captain what he 
])leased to ask for my voyage to Holland ; but understanding 
I was a surgeon, he was contented to take half the usual 
rate, on condition that I would serve him in the W’ay of my 
calling. 

Nothing happened worth mentioning in this voyage. We 
sailed with a fair -wind to the Cape of Good Hope, where we 
stayed only to take in fresh water. On the 10th of A})ril, 


A VOYAGE TO JAPAN 


171 


1710, we arrived safe at Amsterdam, and thence I soon after 
set sail for England. 

On the 1 6th of April we put in at the Downs. I landed the 
next morning and saw, once more, my native country, after an 
absence of five years and six months. I went straight to Red- 
rift’, where I arrived the same day at two in the afternoon, and 
found my wife and family in good health. 


♦ 


PART IV 


A VOYAGE TO THE COUNTRY OF THE 
HOUYHNHNMS 



A VOYAGE TO THE COUNTRY OF 
THE HOUYHNHNMS 


CHAPTER I 

The Author sets out as Captain of a Ship — His Men conspire 
against him — Confine him a long time to his Cabin — Set him 
on shore in an Unknown Land — He travels up into the Country 
— The Yahoos, a strange sort of Animal, described — The Au- 
thor meets two Houyhnhnms. 

I CONTINUED at home with my wife and children about five 
months, and then accepted an advantageous otter made me to 
be captain of the Adventure^ a stout merchantman of three 
hundred and fifty tons : for I understood navigation well. We 
set sail from Portsmouth on the 7th day of September, 1710. 

I had several men die in my ship of fever, so that I was 
forced to get recruits out of Barbadoes and the Leeward Islands, 
where I touched, by the direction of the merchants who em- 
ployed me ; which I had soon too much cause to repent ; for I 
found afterward that most of the new men had been buccaneers.® 
I now had fifty hands on board ; and my orders were that I 
should trade in the South Seas, and make what discoveries I 
could. These rogues, whom I had picked up, debauched my 
other men, and they all formed a conspiracy to seize the ship 
and secure me ; which they did ope morning, rushing into my 

175 


176 


GULLIVER'S TRAVELS 


cabin, and binding me hand and foot, threatening to throw me 
overboard if I offered to stir. 

I told them I was their prisoner, and would submit. This 
they made me swear to do, and then they unbound me, only 
fastening one of my legs with a chain, near my bed, and placed 
a sentry at my door with his gun charged, who was com- 
manded to shoot me dead if I attempted to gain my liberty. They 
sent me down victuals and drink, and took the government of 
the ship to themselves. Their design was to turn pirates, and 
plunder the Spaniards, which they could not do till they got 
more men. But first they resolved to sell the goods in the 
ship, and then go to Madagascar® for recruits. They sailed 
many weeks, and traded with the Indians ; but I knew not 
what course they took, being kept a close prisoner in my cabin, 
and expecting nothing less than to be murdered, as they often 
threatened me. 

On the 9th day of May, 1711, one James Welch came down 
to my cabin, and said he had orders from the captain to set 
me ashore. I expostulated with him, but in vain. They 
forced me into the long-boat, letting me put on my best suit of 
clothes, which were as good as new, and take a small bundle of 
linen, but no arms, except my hanger ; and they were so civil 
as not to search my pockets, into which I conveyed what money 
I had, with some other little necessaries. They rowed about a 
league, and then set me down on a strand. I desired them to 
tell me what country it was. They all swore they knew no 
more than myself They pushed off immediately, advising me 
to make haste, for fear of being overtaken by the tide, and so 
bade me farewell. 

In this desolate condition I advanced forward, and soon got 
to firm ground, where I sat down on a bank to rest myself, 
and consider what I had best do. When I was a little refreshed 
I went up into the country, resolving to deliver myself to the 
first savages I should meet, and purchase my life from them by 


A VOYAGE TO THE IIOUYIINHNMS 


177 


some bracelets, glass rings, and other toys, which sailors usually 
provide themselves with in those voyages, and whereof I had 
some about me. The land was divided by long rows of trees, 
not regularly planted, but naturally growing ; there was plenty 
of grass, and several fields of oats. I walked very circum- 
spectly, for fear of being surprised or suddenly shot with an 
arrow from behind, or on either side. I fell into a beaten road, 
where I saw many tracks of human feet, and some of cows, but 
most of horses. At last I beheld several animals in a field, and 
one or two of the same kind sitting in trees. Their shape was 
very singular and deformed, which a little discomposed me, so 
that I lay down behind a thicket to observe them better. 
Some of them coming forward near the place where I lay, gave 
me an opportunity of distinctly marking their form. Their 
heads and breasts were covered with a thick hair, some frizzled, 
and some lank ; they had beards like goats, and a long ridge 
of hair down their backs, and on the foreparts of their legs and 
feet ; but the rest of their bodies was bare, so that I could see 
their skins, which were of a brown color. They had no tails. 
They often sat on the ground, and often stood on their hind 
feet. They climbed high trees as nimbly as a squirrel, for they 
had strong extended claws, terminating in sharp points, and 
hooked. They would often spring, and bound and leap, with 
prodigious agility. The females were not so large as the males. 
They had long hair on their heads, but none on their faces, 
nor anything more than a sort of down on the rest of their 
bodies. The hair of both sexes was of several colors — brown, 
red, black, and yellow. Upon the whole, I never beheld, in all 
my travels, so disagreeable an animal, nor one against which I 
naturally conceived so strong an antipathy. So that, thinking 
I had seen enough, full of contempt and aversion, I got up, and 
pursued the beaten road, hoping it might direct me to the cabin 
of some Indian. I had not gone far when I met one of the 
creatures full in my way, and coming up directly to me. The 


178 


GULLIVER'S TRAVELS 


ugly monster, when he saw me, distorted several ways every 
feature of his visage, and stared, as at an object he had never 
seen before ; then approaching nearer, lifted up his forepaw, 
whether out of curiosity or mischief, I could not tell : but I 
drew my hanger, and gave him a good blow with the flat side 
of it ; for I durst not strike him with the edge, fearing the in- 
habitants might be provoked against me, if they should come to 
know that I had killed or maimed any of their cattle. When 
the beast felt the smart, he drew back, and roared so loud that 
a herd of at least forty came flocking about me from the next 
field, howling, and making odious faces ; but I ran to the body 
of a tree, and leaning my back against it, kept them off by 
waving my hanger. 

In the midst of this distress I observed them all to run away 
on a sudden as fast as they could ; at which I ventured to leave 
the tree, and pursue the road, wondering what it was that 
could put them into this fright. But, looking on my left hand, 
I saw a horse walking softly in the field, which my persecutors 
having sooner discovered, was the cause of their flight. The 
horse started a little when he came near me, but, quickly recov- 
ering himself, looked full in my face, with manifest tokens of 
wonder. He viewed my hands and feet, walking round me 
several times. I would have pursued my journey, but he 
placed himself directly in the way, yet, looking with a veiy 
mild aspect, never offering the least violence. We stood gazing 
at each other for some time. At last I took the boldness to 
reach my hand toward his neck, with a design to stroke it, 
using the common style and whistle of jockeys when they are 
going to handle a strange horse. But this animal seemed to 
receive my civilities with disdain, shook his head, and bent his 
brows, softly raising up his riglit forefoot to remove my hand. 
Then he neighed three or four times, but in so different a ca- 
dence that I almost began to think he was speaking to himself 
in some language of his own. 


A VOYAGE TO THE IIOUYHNHNMS 


179 


While he and I were thus employed another horse came up, 
who went to the first in a very formal manner, and the two gently 
struck each other’s right front lioof, neighing several times by 
turns, and varying the sound, which seemed to be almost articu- 
late. They went some paces off, as if it were to confer together, 
walking side by side, backward and forward, like persons delib- 
erating upon some affair of weight, but often turning their 
eyes toward me, as it were to watch that I might not escape. 
I was amazed to see such actions and behavior in brute beasts, 
and concluded that if the inhabitants of this country were en- 
dued with a proportionable degree of reason they must needs 
be the wisest people upon earth. This thought gave me so 
much comfort that I resolved to go forward until I could dis- 
cover some house or village, or meet with any of the natives, 
leaving the two horses to discourse together as they pleased. 
But the first, who was a dapple gray, observing me to steal off, 
neighed after me in so expressive a tone that I fancied myself 
to understand what he meant ; whereupon I turned back, and 
came near to him, to expect his further commands, but con- 
cealing my fear as much as I could, for I began to be in some 
anxiety as to, how this adventure might terminate; and the 
reader will easily believe I did not much like my present 
situation. 

The two horses came up close to me, looking with great 
earnestness upon my face and hands. The gray steed rubbed 
my hat all round with his right forehoof, and discomposed it 
so much that I was forced to adjust it better, by taking it off, 
and settling it again ; whereat both he and his companion (who 
was a brown bay) appeared to be much surprised. The latter 
felt the skirt of my coat, and, finding it to hang loose about 
me, they both looked with new signs of wonder. He stroked 
my right hand, seeming to admire the softness and color, but 
he squeezed it so hard between his hoof and his pastern that I 
was forced to roar ; after which they both touched me with all 


180 


GULLIVER^S TRAVELS 


possible tenderness. They were under great perplexity about 
my shoes and stockings, which they felt very often, neighing 
to each other, and using various gestures, not unlike those of a 
philosopher when he would attempt to solve some new and 
difficult phenomenon. 

Upon the whole the behavior of these animals was so or- 
derly and rational, so acute and judicious, that I at last concluded 
they must needs be magicians, who had thus metamorphosed 
themselves, and, seeing a stranger in the way, were resolved to 
divert themselves with him, or perhaps were really amazed at 
the sight of a man so very different in habit, feature, and com- 
plexion, from those who might probably live in so remote a 
climate. Upon the strength of this reasoning I ventured to 
address them in the following manner : “ Gentlemen, if you be 
conjurors, as I have good cause to believe, you can understand 
any language ; therefore I make bold to let your worships know 
that I am a poor, distressed Englishman, driven by his misfor- 
tunes upon your coast; and I entreat one of you to let me 
ride on his back, as if he were a real horse, to some house or 
village where I can be relieved. In return of which favor I 
will make you a present of this knife and bracelet ” (taking 
them out of my pocket). The two creatures stood silent while 
I spoke, seeming to listen with great attention ; and when I 
had ended they neighed frequently toward each other, as if they 
were engaged in serious conversation. I plainly observed that 
tlieir language expressed the passions very well, and their words 
might, with little pains, be resolved into an alphabet more easily 
than the Chinese. 

I could frequently distinguish the word Yahoo, which was 
repeated by each of them several times ; and, although it was 
impossible for me to conjecture what it meant, yet, while the 
two horses were busy in conversation, I endeavored to practice 
this word upon my tongue ; and as soon as they were silent I 


A VOYAGE TO THE HOUYHNHNMS 


181 


boldly pronounced Yahoo in a loud voice, imitating at the 
same time, as near as I could, the neighing of a horse, at which 
they w^ere both visibly surprised ; and the gray repeated the 
same word twice, as if he meant to teach me the right accent. 
I spoke after him as well as I could, and found myself per- 
ceivably to improve every time, though very far from any de- 
gree of perfection. Then the bay tried me with a second word, 
much harder to be pronounced, Wt, reducing it to the Englisli 
orthography, it may be spelt thus, Houyhnhnm. I did not 
succeed in this so well as in the former; but after two or three 
further trials I had better fortune, and they both appeared 
amazed at my capacity. 

After some further discourse, which I then conjectured might 
relate to me, the two friends took their leave, with the same 
compliment of striking each other’s hoof, and the gray made 
me signs that I should walk before him ; wherein I thought it 
prudent to comply, till I could find a better director. When 
I offered to slacken my pace, he would cry, hhuun, hhuun. I 
guessed his meaning, and gave him to understand, as well as I 
could, that I was weary, and not able to walk faster; upon 
which he would stand awhile to let me rest. 


CHAPTER II 


The Author conducted by a Houyhnhnm to his House — The House 
described — The Author’s reception — The Food of the Hou- 
yhnhnins — The Author’s manner of feeding in this Country. 

Having travelled about three miles, we came to a long kind 
of building, made of timbers stuck in the ground, and wattled 
across. The roof was low, and covered with straw. I now be- 
gan to be a little comforted, and took out some toys, which 
travellers usually carry for presents to the savage Indians of 
America, and other parts, in hopes the people of tlie house 
would be thereby encouraged to receive me kindly. The horse 
made me a sign to go in first, and I entered a large room, with 
a smooth clay floor, and a rack and manger extending the whole 
length on one side. There were several horses in the room, 
some of them sitting down on their haunches, which I very 
much wondered at, but wondered more to see the rest employed 
in domestic business. 

Beyond this room there were three others, reaching the 
length of the house, to which you passed through three doors, 
opposite to each other, in the manner of a vista. We went 
through the second room toward the third. Here the gray 
walked in first, beckoning me to remain where I was. I 
waited in the second room, and got ready my presents for the 
master and mistress of the house. They were two knives, 
three bracelets of false pearls, a small looking-glass, and a bead 
necklace. The horse neighed three or four times, and I waited 
to hear some answers in a human voice, but I observed no 
other returns than in the same dialect, only one or two a little 

182 


A VOYAGE TO THE HOUYIINIINMS 


183 


shriller than his. I began to think that this house must belong 
to some person of great note among them, because there ap- 
peared so much ceremony before I could gain admittance. But, 
that a man of quality should be served all by horses, was 
beyond my comprehension. I feared my brain was disturbed 
by my sutferings and misfortunes. I roused myself, and looked 
about me in the room where I was left alone. This was fur- 
nished like the first, only after a more elegant manner. I 
rubbed my eyes often, but the same objects were still in my 
sight. I pinched my arms and sides to awake myself, hoping 
I might be in a dream. I then absolutely concluded that all 
these appearances could be nothing else but necromancy and 
magic. But I had no time to pursue these reflections ; for the 
gray horse came to the door, and made me a sign to follow him 
into the third room, where I saw a very comely mare, together 
with two colts, sitting on their haunches upon mats of straw, 
perfectly neat and clean. 

The mare, soon after my entrance, rose from her mat, and 
coming close, after having nicely observed my hands and face, 
gave me a most contemptuous look, then turning to the horse, I 
heard the word Yahoo often repeated betwixt them, the mean- 
ing of which word I could not then comprehend. But the 
horse, beckoning to me with his head and repeating the word 
hhumi, hhuun, as he did upon the road, which I understood 
was to attend him, led me out into a kind of court, where was 
another building at some distance from the house. Here we 
entered, and I saw three of those detestable creatures which I 
first met after my landing, feeding upon roots and the flesh of 
some animals, which I afterward found to be that of asses and 
dogs, and now and then a cow, dead by accident or disease. 
They were all tied by the neck with strong withes fastened 
to a beam. They held their food between the claws of their 
forefeet, and tore it with their teeth. 

The master horse ordered a sorrel nag, one of his servants, to 


184 


GULLIVER^S TRAVELS 


untie the largest of these animals, and take him into the yard. 
The beast and I were brought close together, and our counte- 
nances diligently compared, both by master and servant, who 
thereupon repeated several times the word Yahoo. My horror 
and astonishment are not to be described when I observed in 
this abominable animal a perfect human figure ; though the face 
of it was flat and broad, the nose depressed, the lips large, 
and the mouth wide. The forefeet of the Yahoo differed from 
my hands in nothing else but the length of the nails, the 
coarseness and brownness of the palms, and the hairiness on 
the backs. There was the same resemblance between our feet, 
with the same differences which I knew very well, though the 
horses did not, because of my shoes and stockings. 

The great difficulty that seemed to stick with the two horses 
was to see the rest of my body so very different from that of a 
Yahoo ; for which I was obliged to my clothes, whereof they 
had no conception. The sorrel nag offered me a root, which he 
held between his hoof and pastern. I took it in my hand, and, 
having smelled it, returned it to him as civilly as I could. He 
brought out of the Yahoo’s kennel a piece of ass’s flesh ; but it 
smelled so offensive that I turned from it with loathing. He 
then threw it to the Yahoo, by whom it was greedily devoured. 
He afterward showed me a wisp of hay, and some oats ; but I 
shook my head, to signify that neither of these was food for me. 
And indeed I now apprehended that I must absolutely starve if 
I did not get to some of my own species; for, as to those filthy 
Yahoos, I confess I never saw any sensitive being so detestable. 
This the master horse observed by my behavior, and therefore 
sent the Yahoo back to his kennel. He then put his forehoof 
to his mouth, at which I was much surprised, although he did 
it with ease, and with a motion that appeared perfectly natural ; 
and made other signs to know what I would eat ; but I could 
not return him such an answer as he was able to apprehend ; 
and if he had understood me, I did not see how it was possible 


A VOYAGE TO THE HOUYHNHNMS 


185 


to contrive any way for finding myself nourishment. While we 
were thus engaged I observed a cow passing by, whereupon 1 
pointed to her, and expressed a desire to go and milk her. 
This had its effect; for he led me back into the house, and 
ordered a mare servant to open a room, where a good store of 
milk lay in earthen and wooden vessels, after a very orderly 
and cleanly manner. She gave me a large bowlful, of which I 
drank very heartily, and found myself well refreshed. 

About noon I saw coming toward the house a kind of vehicle 
drawn like a sledge by four Yahoos. There was in it an old 
steed, who seemed to be of quality ; he alighted with his hind 
feet forward, having by accident got a hurt in his left forefoot. 
He came to dine with our horse, who received him with great 
civility. They dined in the best room, and had oats boiled in 
milk for the second course, which the old horse ate warm, but 
the rest ate it cold. Their mangers were placed circular in 
the middle of the room, and divided by several partitions, 
round which they sat on their haunches upon mats of straw. 
In the middle was a large rack, with angles answering to every 
partition of the manger ; so that each horse and mare ate their 
own hay, and their own mash of oats and milk, with much 
decency and regularity. The behavior of the young colts ap- 
peared very modest, and that of the master and mistress ex- 
tremely cheerful and complaisant to their guest. The gray 
ordered me to stand by him ; and much discourse passed be- 
tween him and his friend concerning me, as I found by the 
stranger’s often looking on me, and the frequent -repetition of 
the word Yahoo. 

I happened to wear my gloves, which the master gray observ- 
ing, seemed perplexed, discovering signs of wonder what I had 
done to my forefeet. He put his hoof three or four times to 
them, as if he would signify that I should reduce them to 
their former shape ; which I presently did, pulling off both my 
gloves, and putting them into my pocket. This occasioned 


186 


GULLIVER^ S TRAVELS 


further talk: and I saw the company was pleased with my 
behavior, whereof I soon found the good eftects. I was or- 
dered to speak the few words I understood ; and while they 
were at dinner, the master taught me the names for oats, 
milk, fire, water, and some other things which I could readily 
pronounce after him, having from my youth a great facility 
in learning languages. 

When dinner was done, the master horse took me aside, and 
by signs and words made me understand the concern he was 
in that I had nothing to eat. Oats in their tongue are 
called hlunnh. This word I pronounced two or three times ; 
for although I had refused them at first, yet, upon second 
thoughts, I considered that I could contrive to make of them a 
kind of bread, which might be sufficient, with milk, to keep me 
alive till I could make my escape to some other country, and to 
creatures of my own species. The horse immediately ordered 
a white mare-servant of his family to bring me a good quantity 
of oats in a sort of wooden tray. These I heated before the 
fire, as well a^ I could, and rubbed them till the husks came 
off, which I contrived to winnow from the grain. I ground 
and beat them between two stones, then took water, and made 
them into a paste or cake, which I toasted at the fire, and ate 
warm with milk. It was at first a very insipid diet, though 
common enough in many parts of Europe, but grew tolerable 
by time ; and having been often reduced to hard fare in my life, 
this was not the first experiment I had made how easily nature 
is satisfied. And I cannot but observe that I never had one 
hour’s sickness while I stayed in this island. ’Tis true, I some- 
times managed to catch a rabbit, or bird, by snares made of 
Yahoos’ hairs ; and I often gathered wholesome herbs, which I 
boiled, or ate as salads with my bread ; and now and then, for 
a rarity, I made a little butter, and drank the whey. I was at 
first at a great loss for salt, but custom soon reconciled me to 
the want of it : and I am confident that the frequent use of salt 


A VOYAGE TO THE IIOUYHNIIKMS 


187 


among us is an effect of luxury, and was first introduced only 
as a provocative to drink, except where it is necessary for pre- 
serving flesh in long voyages, or in places remote from great 
markets: and, when I left this country, it was a great while 
before I could endure the taste of salt in anything that I ate. 

When it grew toward evening, the master horse ordered a 
place for me to lodge in. It was but six yards from the house, 
and separated from the stable of the Yahoos. Here I got some 
straw, and slept very sound. 


CHAPTER III 


The Author studies to learn the Language — The Houyhnhnm, his 
Master, assists in teaching him — The Language described — 
Several Houyhnhnms of quality come out of curiosity to see the 
Author — He gives his Master a short account of his Voyage. 

My principal endeavor was to learn the language, which my 
master (for so I shall henceforth call him) and his children, and 
every servant of his house, were desirous to teach me : for they 
looked upon it as a prodigy that a brute animal should dis- 
cover such marks of a rational creature. I pointed to every- 
thing, and inquired the name of it, and corrected my bad accent 
by desiring those of the family to pronounce it often. In this 
employment a sorrel nag, one of the under-servants, was very 
ready to assist me. 

In speaking, they pronounce through the nose and throat ; 
and their language approaches nearest to the German, of any I 
know in Europe ; but is much more graceful and significant. 

The curiosity and impatience of my master were so great that 
he spent many hours of his leisure to instruct me. He was 
convinced (as he afterward told me) that I must be a Yahoo ; 
but my teachableness, civility, and cleanliness astonished him ; 
which were qualities altogether opposite to such as belonged to 
those animals. My master was eager to learn whence I came ; 
how I acquired those appearances of reason which I discovered 
in all my actions ; and to know my story from my own mouth ; 
which he hoped he should soon do, by the great proficiency I 
made in learning and pronouncing their words and sentences. 

188 


A VOYAGU TO THE HOUYHNHNMS 


189 


To help my memory, I writ down the words I learned, with 
the translations. This last, after some time, I ventured to do 
in my master’s presence. It cost me much trouble to explain 
to him what I was doing; for the inhabitants have not the 
least idea of books and literature. 

In about ten weeks’ time I was able to understand most of 
his questions, and in three months could give him some toler- 
able answers. He was extremely curious to know from what 
part of the country I came, and how I was taught to imitate a 
rational creature; because the Yahoos (whom he saw I exactly 
resembled) with some appearance of cunning, and the strongest 
disposition to mischief, were the most unteachable of all brutes. 
I answered that I came over the sea, from a far place, with 
many others of my own kind, in a great hollow vessel, made of 
the bodies of trees : that my companions forced me to land on 
this coast, and then left me to shift for myself. It was with some 
difficulty, and by the help of many signs, that I brought him to 
understand me. He replied that I must needs be mistaken, or 
that I said the thing which was not ; for they have no word in 
their language to express lying or falsehood. He knew it was 
impossible that there could be a country beyond the sea, or that 
a parcel of brutes could move a wooden vessel whither they 
pleased upon water. He was sure no Houyhnhnm alive 
could make such a vessel, nor would trust Yahoos to manage 
it. 

The word Houyhnhnm^ in their tongue, signifies a Aorse, and, 
in its etymology, the ^perfection of nature. I told my master 
that I was at a loss for expression, but would improve as fast 
as I could ; and hoped in a short time I should be able to tell 
him wonders. Several horses and mares of quality in the neigh- 
borhood came often to our house, upon the report spread of a 
wonderful Yahoo that could speak like a Houyhnhnm, and 
seemed, in his words and actions, to discover some glimmerings 
of reason. These delighted to converse with me. They put 


190 


GULLIVER'S TRAVELS 


many questions, and received such answers as I was able to 
return. By these advantages I made so great a progress that 
in five months from my arrival I understood whatever was 
spoken, and could express myself tolerably well. 

The Houyhnhnms, who came to visit my master out of a 
design of seeing and talking with me, could hardly believe me 
to be a real Yahoo, because my body had a difierent covering 
from others of my kind. 

I had concealed the secret of my dress, in order to distinguish 
myself, as much as I could, from the cursed race of Yahoos ; 
but now I considered that my clothes and shoes would soon 
wear out, which already were in a declining condition, and must 
be supplied by some contrivance, from the hides of Yahoos, or 
other brutes ; whereby the whole secret would be known. I 
therefore told my master that in the country whence I came 
those of my kind always covered their bodies with the hairs of 
certain animals, prepared by art, to avoid the inclemencies of 
air, both hot and cold. 

I expressed my uneasiness at his giving me so often the 
appellation of Yahoo, an odious animal, for which I had so 
utter a hatred and contempt. I begged he would forbear apply- 
ing that word to me, and make the same order in his family 
and among his friends whom he suffered to see me. I requested 
likewise that the secret of my having a false covering to my 
body might be known to none but himself, at least as long as 
my present clothing should last. 

All this my master very graciously consented to. In the 
meantime he desired I would go on with my utmost diligence to 
learn their language, because he waited with some impatience 
to hear the wonders which I promised to tell him. 

Every day, when I waited on him, besides the trouble he 
was at in teaching, he would ask me several questions concern- 
ing myself, which I answered as well as I could ; and by these 
means he had already received some general ideas, though very 


A VOYAGE TO THE IIOUYHNIINMS 


191 


imperfect. Tlie first account I gave of myself in any order and 
length was to this purpose : 

That I came from a very far country, with about fifty more 
of my own species ; that we travelled upon the seas in a great, 
hollow vessel made of wood, and larger than his honor’s house. 
I described the ship to him in the best terms I could, and ex- 
plained, by the help of my handkerchief, how it was driven 
forward by the wind. That, upon a quarrel among us, I was 
set on shore on this coast, where I walked forward, without 
knowing whither, till he delivered me from the persecution of 
those execrable Yahoos. 

He asked me who made the ship, and how it was possible 
that the Houyhnhnms of my country would leave it to the 
management of brutes ? My answer was, that I durst proceed 
no further in my relation, unless he would give me his word 
and honor that he would not be ofiended. He agreed, and I 
went on by assuring him that the ship was made by creatures 
like myself ; who, in all the countries I had travelled, as well 
as in my own, were the only governing rational animals : and 
that, on my arrival here, I was as much astonished to see the 
Houyhnhnms act like rational beings as he, or his friends, 
could be in finding some marks of reason in a creature he was 
pleased to call a Yahoo ; to which I owned my resemblance, 
but could not account for their degenerate and brutal nature. 
I said further that if good fortune ever restored me to my 
native country to relate my travels hither, everybody would 
believe that I said the thing which was not, that I invented 
the story out of my own head ; and (with all possible respect 
to himself, his family and friends) our countrymen would hardly 
think it probable that a Houyhnhnm should be the presiding 
creature of a nation, and a Yahoo the brute. 


CHAPTER IV 


The Houyhnhnms’ notion of Truth and Falsehood — The Author’s 
discourse disapproved by his Master — The Author gives a more 
particular account of himself, and the Accidents of his Voyage. 

My master heard me with great appearances of uneasiness 
in his countenance ; because doubting, or not believing, are so 
little known in this country that the inhabitants cannot tell 
how to behave themselves under such circumstances. And I 
remember, in frequent discourses with my master concerning 
the nature of manhood in other parts of the world, having oc- 
casion to talk of lying and false representation, it was with 
much difficulty that he comprehended what I meant, although 
he had otherwise a most acute judgment ; for he argued thus : 
That the use of speech was to make us understand one another, 
and to receive information of facts. Now if any one said the 
thing which was not, those ends were defeated ; and I am so 
far from receiving information that he leaves me worse than in 
ignorance ; for I am led to believe a thing black when it is 
white, and short when it is long. And these were all the 
notions he had’ concerning that faculty of lying, so perfectly 
well understood, and so universally practised among human 
creatures. 

To return from this digression. When I asserted that the 
Yahoos were the only governing animals in my country, which 
my master said was altogether past his conception, he desired 
to know whether we had Houyhnhnms among us, and what 
was their employment ? I told him we had great numbers ; 

192 


A VOYAGE TO THE HOUYHNHNMS 


193 


that in summer they grazed in the fields, and in winter were 
kept in houses with hay and oats, where Yahoo servants were 
employed to rub their skins smooth, comb their manes, serve 
them with food, and make their beds. 

“ I understand you well,” said my master ; “ it is now very 
plain, from all you have spoken, that whatever share of reason 
the Yahoos pretend to, the Houyhnhnms are your masters. I 
heartily wish our Yahoos would be so tractable.” 

I begged his honor would please to excuse me from proceed- 
ing any further, because I was very certain that the account he 
expected from me would be highly displeasing. But he per- 
sisted in commanding me to let him know tlie best and the 
worst. 

I told him that the Houyhnhnms among us, whom we called 
horses, were the most generous and comely animals we had ; 
that they excelled in strength and swiftness ; and, when they 
belonged to persons of quality, were employed in travelling, 
racing, or drawing carriages. They were treated with much 
kindness and care till they fell into diseases ; and then they 
w'ere used for all kinds of drudgery till they died ; after which 
their skins were stripped off, and sold, and their bodies left to 
be devoured by dogs and birds of prey. As for the common 
race of horses, they were kept by farmers and carriers, and 
other people, who put them to greater labor, and fed them 
worse. 

I described, as well as I could, our way of riding ; the shape 
and use of a bridle, a saddle, a spur, and a whip ; of harness 
and wheels. I added that we fastened plates of a certain hard 
substance, called iron, at the bottom of the horses’ feet, to 
preserve their hoofs from being broken by the stony ways on 
which we often travelled. 

My master, after some expressions of great indignation, won- 
dered how we dared to venture upon a Houyhnhnm’s back ; 
for he was sure that the weakest servant in his house would be 


o 


194 


GULLIVER’S TRAVELS 


able to shake off the strongest Yahoo, or, by lying down, and 
rolling on his back, squeeze the brute to death. I answered, 
that our horses were trained, from three or four years old, to 
the several uses we intended them for ; that if any of them 
proved intolerably vicious, they were severely beaten ; that 
they w'ere sensible of rewards and punishments ; but his honor 
would please to consider that they had not the least tincture 
of reason, any more than the Yahoos in this country. 

It put me to the pains of many circumlocutions to give my 
master a right idea of what I spoke ; for their language doth 
not abound in variety of words, because their wants and pas- 
sions are fewer than among us. But it is impossible to express 
his noble resentment at our savage treatment of the Hou- 
yhnhnm race. He said, if it were possible there could be any 
country where Yahoos alone were endued with reason, they cer- 
tainly must be the goveiTiing animal ; because reason will, in 
time, always prevail against brutal strength. But, considering the 
frame of our bodies, he thought no creature of equal bulk was 
so ill contrived for employing that reason in the common offices 
of life. He said I differed indeed from other Yahoos, being 
much more cleanly, and not altogether so deformed ; but, in 
point of real advantage, he thought I differed for the worse. 
That my nails were of no use either to my fore or hinder feet. 
As to my forefeet, he could not properly call them by that name, 
for he never observed me to walk upon them ; that they were too 
soft to bear the ground ; that I generally went with them uncov- 
ered ; neither was the covering I sometimes wore on them of the 
same shape, or so strong as that on my feet behind. That I could 
not walk with any security, for if either of my hinder feet slipped, 
I must inevitably fall. He then began to find fault with other 
parts of my body ; the flatness of my face, the prominence of my 
nose, mine eyes placed directly in front, so that I could not look 
on either side without turning my head ; that I was not able to 
feed myself without lifting one of my forefeet to my mouth ; 


VOYAGE TO THE HOUYHNIINMS 


195 


and therefore nature had placed those joints to answer that 
necessity. He knew not what could be the use of those several 
clefts and divisions in my feet behind ; that my feet were too 
soft to bear the hardness and sharpness of stones, without a 
covering made from the skin of some other brute; that my 
whole body wanted a defence against heat and cold, which I 
was forced to put on and off every day, with tediousness and 
trouble. And lastly, that he observed every animal in this 
country naturally to abhor the Yahoos, whom the weaker 
avoided, and the stronger drove from them. So that he could 
not see how it were possible to cure that natural antipathy 
which every creature discovered against us ; nor, consequently, 
how we could tame and render them serviceable. However, 
he would, as he said, debate the matter no further, because he 
was desirous to know my_ own story. 

I said my birth was of honest parents, in an island called 
England, which was remote from this country as many days’ 
journey as the strongest of his honor’s servants could travel in 
the annual course of the sun ; that I was bred a surgeon, whose 
trade is to cure wounds and hurts in the body, gotten by 
accident or violence ; that I left my country to get riches, 
wliereby I might maintain myself and family, when I should 
return ; that in my last voyage I was commander of the ship, 
and had about fifty Yahoos under me, many of which died at 
sea, and I was forced to supply their places by others picked 
out from several nations. Here my master interposed, by 
asking me how I could persuade strangers, out of different 
countries, to venture with me, after the losses I had sustained ? 
I said they were fellows of desperate fortunes, forced to fly from 
the places of their birth on account of their poverty or their 
crimes. Some were undone by lawsuits ; others spent all 
they had in drinking, debauchery, and gaming ; others fled for 
treason ; many for murder, theft, poisoning, robbery, or coining 
false money ; and most of them had broken prison. None 


196 


GULLIVER'S TRAVELS 


of these durst return to their native countries, for fear of being 
hanged, or of starving in a jail ; and therefore they were under 
a necessity of seeking a livelihood in other places. 

During this discourse my master was pleased to interrupt me 
several times. I had made use of many circumlocutions in 
describing to him the nature of the several crimes for which 
most of our crew had been forced to fly from their country. 
This labor took up several days’ conversation before he was 
able to comprehend me. He was wholly at a loss to know 
what could be the use or necessity of practising those vices : to 
clear up which 1 endeavored to give him some ideas of the 
desire of power and riches ; of the terrible effects of intemperance, 
malice, and envy. After which, like one whose imagination 
was struck with something never seen or heard of before, he 
would lift up his eyes with amazement and indignation. Power, 
government, war, law, punishment, and a thousand other things 
had no terms wherein that language could express them, which 
made the difficulty almost insuperable, to give my master any 
conception of what I meant. But being of an excellent under- 
standing, much improved by contemplation and conwerse, he at 
last arrived at a competent knowledge of what human nature, 
in our parts of the world, is capable to perform, and desired I 
would give him some particular account of that land which we 
call Europe, but especially of my own country. 


CHAPTER V 


The Author, at his Master’s command, informs him of England — 
The causes of war among the Princes of Europe — The Author 
explains the condition of England under Queen Anne. 

The reader may please to observe that the following extract 
of many conversations I had with my master contains a sum- 
mary of the most material points which were discoursed at 
several times for above two years ; his honor often desiring 
fuller satisfaction, as I further improved in the Houyhnhnm 
tongue. I laid before him, as well as I could, the whole state 
of Europe. But I shall here only set down the substance of 
what passed between us concerning my own country. 

1 related to him the revolution under the Prince of Orange® ; 
the long war with France, entered into by the said prince, and 
renewed by his successor, the present queen, wherein the 
greatest powers of Christendom were engaged, and which still 
continued. I computed, at his request, that about a million of 
Yahoos had been killed in the whole progress of it ; and perhaps 
a hundred or more cities taken, and five times as many ships 
burned or sunk. 

He asked me what were the usual causes or motives that 
made one country go to war with another ? I answered they 
were innumerable, but I should only mention a few of the chief. 
Sometimes the ambition of princes, who never think they have 
land or people enough to govern ; sometimes the corruption of 
ministers, who engage their master in a war in order to stifle 
or divert the clamor of the subjects against their evil adminis- 

197 ■ 


198 


GULLIVER'S TRAVELS 


tration. Difference in opinions is talso a cause. Neither are 
any other wars so furious and bloody, or of so long continuance, 
as those occasioned by difference in opinions. 

Sometimes the quarrel between two princes is to decide 
which of them shall dispossess a third of his dominions, where 
neither of them pretend to any right. Sometimes one prince 
quarrelleth with another, for fear the other should quarrel with 
him. Sometimes our neighbors want the things which we have, 
or have the things which we want, and we both fight till they 
take ours, or give us theirs. If a prince sends forces into a 
nation where the people are poor and ignorant, he may law- 
fully put half of them to deatli, and make slaves of the rest, in 
order to civilize and compel them to abandon their barbarous 
way of living. 

What you have told me, said my master, upon the subject 
of war, does, indeed, discover most admirably the effects of that 
reason you pretend to. However, it is happy that nature hath 
left you utterly incapable of doing much mischief; for your 

mouths lying flat with your faces, you can hardly bite each 

other to any purpose. Idien as to the claws upon your feet, 

before and behind, they are so short and tender that one of our 

Yahoos would drive a dozen of yours before him. And there- 
fore, in recounting the numbers of those who have been killed 
in battle, I cannot but think that you have said the thing 
which is not. 

I could not forbear shaking my head, and smiling a little at 
Ills ignorance. And I gave him a description of cannons, 
muskets, pistols, bullets, powder, swords, bayonets, battles, 
sieges, bombardments, sea-fights, ships sunk with a thousand 
men, smoke, noise, confusion, flight, pursuit, victory ; fields 
strewed with carcasses left for food to dogs and birds of prey ; 
plundering, burning, and destroying. 

I was going on to more particulars, when my master com- 
manded me to be silent. He said whoever understood the 


A VO vagi: to the iiouyiiniinms 


199 


nature of Yahoos might easily believe it possible for so vile an 
animal to be capable of every action I had named, if their 
strength and cunning equalled their malice. But although he 
hated the Yahoos of this country, yet he no more blamed them 
for their odious qualities than he did a bird of prey for its cru- 
elty, or a sharp stone for cutting his hoof. But when a crea- 
ture pretending to reason could be capable of such enormities, 
he dreaded lest the corruption of that faculty might be Avorse 
than brutality itself. He seemed, therefore, confident, that, in- 
stead of reason, we were only possessed of some quality fitted 
to increase our natural vices. 

He added that he had heard too much upon the subject of 
war, but there was another point which a little perplexed him. 
I had informed him that some of our crew left their country on 
account of being ruined by law ; that I had already explained 
the meaning of the word ; but he was at a loss diow it should 
come to pass, that the law, which was intended for every man’s 
preservation, should be any man’s ruin. 

I assured his honor that law was a science in which I had 
not much knowledge. However, I w’ould give him all the 
satisfaction I was able. 

I said there was a society of men among us, bred up from 
their youth in the art of proving, by words multiplied for the 
purpose, that white is black, and black is w^hite ; according as 
they are paid. To this society all the rest of the people are 
slaves. • For example, if my neighbor has a mind to have my 
cow, he hires a lawyer to prove that he ought to have my cow 
from me. I must then hire another to defend my right, it be- 
ing against all rules of law that any man should be allowed to 
speak for himself. Now, in this case, I, who am the right 
owner, am under a great disadvantage : because, my lawyer, 
being practised almost from his cradle in defending falsehood, 
is quite out of his element when he would be an advocate for 
justice. 


200 


GULLIVER^ S TRAVELS 


It is a maxim among lawyers that whatever has been done 
before may legally be done again ; and therefore they take 
special care to record all the decisions formerly made. These, 
under the name of precedents, they produce as authorities to 
justify the most iniquitous opinions. 

In pleading they are loud, violent, and tedious. For in- 
stance, in the case already mentioned, they desire to know 
whether the said cow was red or black; her horns long or 
short ; whether the field I graze her in is round or square ; 
whether she was milked at home or abroad ; what diseases she 
is subject to, and the like ; after which they consult precedents, 
adjourn the cause from time to time, and in ten, twenty, or 
thirty years come to a decision. 

It is likewise to be observed that this society has a peculiar 
cant and jargon of their own that no other mortal can under- 
stand, and wherein all their laws are written, which laws they 
take special care to multiply ; whereby they have wholly con- ' 
founded the very essence of truth and falsehood, of right and 
wrong. 

In the trial of persons accused for crime against the state, 
the method is much more short and commendable : the judge 
first sends to sound the disposition of those in power; after 
which he can easily hang or save a criminal, strictly preserving 
all due forms of law. 

Here my master interposing, said it was a pity that crea- 
tures endowed with such prodigious abilities of mind as these 
lawyers, by the description I gave of them, must certainly be, 
were not rather encouraged to be instructors of others in wis- 
dom and knowledge. 

My master was yet wholly at a loss to understand what mo- 
tives could incite this race of lawyers to perplex, disquiet, and 
weary themselves ; neither could he comprehend what I meant 
in saying they did it for hire : whereupon I was at much pains 
to describe to him the use of money, the materials it was made 


A VOYAGE TO THE HOUYHNHNMS 


201 


of, and the value of the metals ; that when a Yahoo had got a 
great store of this precious substance he was able to purchase 
whatever he had a mind to ; the finest clothing, the noblest 
houses, great tracts of laud, the most costly meats and drinks. 
Therefore, since money alone was able to perform all these 
feats, our Yahoos thought they could never have enough of it 
to spend, or to save, as they found themselves inclined ; that 
the rich men enjoyed the fruit of the poor man’s labor, and the 
latter were a thousand to one in proportion to the former ; that 
the bulk of our people were forced to live miserably, by labor- 
ing every day for small wages, to enable a few to live plentifully. 

I enlarged much on these, and many other particulars ; but 
his honor went upon a supposition that all animals had a title 
to their share in the productions of the earth, and therefore he 
desired I would let him know what these costly foods were, and 
how any of us happened to want them ? Wliereupon I enu- 
merated as many sorts as came into my head, for which we had 
to send vessels by sea to every part of the world, and as well 
for liquors to drink. I assured him that this whole globe of 
earth must be at least three times gone round before one of our 
better female Yahoos could get her breakfast. He said that 
must needs be a miserable country which cannot furnish food 
for its own inhabitants. But what he chiefly wondered at was, 
how such vast tracts of ground as I described should be wholly 
without fresh water, and the people put to the necessity of 
sending over the sea for drink. I replied that wine was not 
imported among us from foreign countries to supply the want 
of water, but because it was a sort of liquid which made us 
merry, by putting us out of our senses, diverted all melancholy 
thoughts, begat wild, extravagant imaginations in the brain, 
raised our hopes and banished our fears, suspended every office 
of reason for a time, and deprived us of the use of our limbs, till 
we fell into a profound sleep ; although it must be confessed that 
we always awaked sick and dispirited, and that the use of this 


202 


GULLIVER^ S TRAVELS 


liquor filled us with diseases which made our lives uncomfort- 
able and short. 

But, beside all this, the bulk of our people supported them- 
selves by furnishing the necessities or conveniences of life to the 
rich, and to each other. For instance, when I am at home, 
and dressed as I ought to be, I carry on my body the workman- 
ship of a hundred tradesmen ; the building and furniture of my 
house employ as many more, and five times the number to 
adorn my wife. 

I was going on to tell him of another sort of people, who get 
their livelihood by attending the sick. But here it was with 
the utmost difficulty that I brought him to apprehend what I 
meant. He could easily conceive that a Houyhnhnm grew 
weak and heavy a few days before his death, or by some acci- 
dent might hurt a limb ; but that nature, who works all things 
to perfection, should suffer any pains to breed in our bodies he 
thought impossible, and desired to know the reason of so 
unaccountable an evil. 

I told him we fed on a thousand things which operated con- 
'trary to each other; that we ate when we were not hungry, 
and drank without the provocation of thirst ; that we sat whole 
nights drinking strong liquors, without eating a bit, which dis- 
posed us to sloth, inflamed our bodies, and prevented digestion ; 
that it would be endless to give him a catalogue of all diseases 
incident to human bodies, for they could not be fewer than five 
or six hundred, spread over every limb and joint ; in short, every 
part, external and intestine, having diseases appropriated to itself : 
to remedy which there was a sort of people bred up among us in 
the profession, or the pretence, of curing the sick. 

But, besides real diseases, we are subject to many that were 
only imaginary, for which the physicians have invented imagi- 
nary cures ; these have their several names, and so have the 
drugs that are proper for them ; and with these our female 
Yahoos are always infested. 


A VOYAGE TO THE IIOUYIINIINMS 


203 


One day, in discourse, my master having heard me mention 
the nobility of my country, was pleased to make me a compli- 
ment which I could not pretend to deserve : That he was sure 
I must have been born of some noble family, because I far ex- 
ceeded in shape, color, and cleanliness all the Yahoos of his 
nation, although I seemed to fail in strength and agility, which 
must be imputed to my different way of living from those other 
brutes ; and, besides, I was not only endowed with the faculty 
of speech, but likewise with some rudiments of reason, to a 
degree that, with all his acquaintance, I passed for a prodigy. 

He made me observe that among the Houyhnhnms the white, 
the sorrel, and the iron-gray were not so exactly shaped as the 
bay, the dapple-gray, and the black; nor bom with equal 
talents of mind, or a capacity to improve them, and therefore 
continued always in the condition of servants. 

I made his honor my most humble acknowledgments for the 
good opinion he was pleased to conceive of me, but assured 
him, at the same time, that my birth was of the lower sort, 
having been born of plain, honest parents, who were just able 
to give me a tolerable education ; that nobility among us was 
altogether a different thing from the idea he had of it ; that our 
young noblemen are bred from their childhood in idleness and 
luxury. 


CHAPTER VI 


The Author’s great Love of his native Country — His Master’s 
observations upon the Constitution and Administration of Eng- 
land, as described by the Author, with Parallel Cases and Com- 
parisons — His Master’s observations upon Human Nature. 

I HAD not been a year in this country before I contracted 
such a love and veneration for the inhabitants that I entered 
on a firm resolution never to return to humankind, but to pass 
the rest of my life among these admirable Houyhnhnms, in the 
contemplation and practice of every virtue, where I could have 
no example or incitement to vice. But it was decreed by for- 
tune, that so great a felicity should not fall to my share. 
However, it is now some comfort to reflect that in what I said 
of my countrymen I extenuated their faults as much as I durst 
before so strict an examiner. For, indeed, who is there alive 
that will not be swayed by his bias and partiality to the place 
of his birth ? 

I have related the substance of several conversations I had 
with my master during the greatest part of the time I had the 
honor to be in his service, but have, indeed, for brevity’s sake, 
omitted much more than is here set down. 

When I had answered all his questions, and his curiosity 
seemed to be fully satisfied, he sent for me one morning early, 
and commanded me to sit down (an honor which he had never 
before conferred upon me). He said he had been very seriously 
considering my whole story, as far as it related both to myself 
and my country ; that he looked upon us as a sort of animals, 

204 


A VOYAGE TO THE HOUYHNHNMS 


205 


to whose share, by what accident he could not conjecture, some 
small pittance of reason had fallen, whereof we made no other 
use than, by its assistance, to aggravate our natural corrup- 
tions ; that as to myself it was manifest I had neither the 
strength nor agility of a common Yahoo ; that I walked in- 
firmly on my hinder feet, had found out a contrivance to make 
my claws of no use or defence, and to remove the hair from my 
chin, which was intended as a shelter from the sun and the 
weather ; lastly, that I could neither run with speed, nor climb 
trees like my brethren, as he called them, the Yahoos in his country. 

That our institutions of government and law were plainly 
owing to our gross defects in reason and virtue. 

He observed that, as I agreed in every feature of my body 
with other Yahoos, except where it w'as to my real disadvan- 
tage, in point of strength, speed, and activity; so from the rep- 
resentation I had given him of our lives, our manners, and our 
actions, he found as near a resemblance in the disposition of our 
minds. He said that the dissensions of those brutes in his 
country were owing to the same causes with ours, as I had de- 
scribed them. For if, said he, you throw among five Yahoos 
as much food as would be sufficient for fifty, they will, instead 
of eating peaceably, fall together by the ears, each one impa- 
tient to have all to itself ; and therefore a servant w’as usually 
employed to stand by while they w^ere feeding abroad, and 
those kept at home were tied at a distance from each other ; 
that if a cow died of age or accident, before a Houyhnhnm 
could secure it for his own Yahoos, those in the neighborhood 
would come in herds to seize it, and then wmuld ensue such a 
battle as I had described, with terrible wounds, made by their 
claws, on both sides, although they seldom were able to kill one 
another, for want of such convenient instruments of death as 
we had invented. At other times, battles had been fought be- 
tween the Yahoos of several neighborhoods, without any visible 
cause ; those of one district watching all opportunities to sur- 


206 


GULLIVER^ S TRAVELS 


prise the next, before they are prepared. But if they find their 
project hath miscarried, they return home, and for want of 
enemies engage in what I called a civil war among themselves. 

That in some fields of his country there are certain shining 
stones of several colors, whereof the Yahoos are violently fond ; 
and when part of these stones is fixed in the earth, as it some- 
times happeneth, they will dig with their claws for whole days 
to get them out ; then carry them away, and hide them by 
heaps in their kennels ; but still looking round with great cau- 
tion, for fear their comrades should find out their treasure. My 
master said he could never discover the reason of this unnatural 
appetite, or how these stones could be of any use to a Yahoo ; 
but now he believed it might proceed from the same principle 
of avarice which I had ascribed to mankind : that he had once, 
by way of experiment, privately removed a heap of these stones 
from the place where one of his Yahoos had buried it ; where- 
upon the sordid animal, missing his treasure, by his loud 
lamenting brought the whole herd to the place, there miserably 
howled, then fell to biting and tearing the rest, began to pine 
away, would neither eat, nor sleep, nor w^ork, till he ordered a 
servant privately to convey the stones into the same hole, and 
hide them as before ; which, when his Yahoo had found, he 
presently recovered his spirits and good-humor, but took care 
to remove the treasure to a better hiding-place, and hath ever 
since been a very serviceable brute. 

My master further assured me, which I also observed myself, 
that in the fields where the shining stones abound, the fiercest 
and most frequent battles are fought, occasioned by perpetual 
inroads of the neighboring Yahoos. 

He said, it was common when two Yahoos discovered such a 
stone in a field, and were contending which of them should be 
the proprietor, a third would take the advantage, and carry it 
away from them both ; which my master would needs contend 
to have some kind of resemblance with our suits at law. 


A VO TAG TO THE IIOUYIINHNMS 


207 


My master coiitiiiuing his discourse, said there was nothing 
that rendered the Yahoos more odious than their undistinguish- 
ing appetite to devour everything that came in their way, 
whether herbs, roots, berries, the corrupted flesh of animals, or 
all mingled together : and it was peculiar in their temper that 
they weie fonder of what they could get by stealth, at a dis- 
tance, than much better food provided for them at home. 
Also, if their prey held out, they would eat till they were 
ready to burst. 

There was a kind of root, very juicy, but somewhat rare and 
difficult to be found, which the Yahoos sought for with much 
eagerness, and would suck it with great delight. It produced 
in them the same effects that wine hath upon us. It would 
make them sometimes hug, and sometimes tear one another. 
They would howl, and grin, and chatter, and reel, and tumble, 
and then fall asleep in the dirt. 

I did indeed observe that the Yahoos were the only animals 
in this country subject to any diseases ; which, however, were 
contracted, not by any ill treatment they meet with, but by the 
nastiness and greediness of that sordid brute. Neither has 
their language any more than a general appellation for those 
maladies which is borrowed from the name of the beast, and 
called Ilnea-yahoo, or the Yahoo’s-evil. 

My master told me there were some cpialities remarkable in 
the Yahoos, which he had not observed me to mention, or at 
least very slightly, in the accounts I had given him of human- 
kind. One thing he wondered at in the Yahoos was their 
strange disposition to nastiness and dirt ; whereas there appears 
to be a natural love of cleanliness in all other animals. I could 
easily have vindicated humankind from the imputation of sin- 
gularity upon the last article if there had been any swine in 
that country (as unluckily for me there were not) which al- 
though it may be a sweeter quadruped than a Yahoo, cannot 
I humbly conceive, in justice, pretend to more cleanliness ; and 


208 


GULLIVER’S TRAVELS 


so his honor himself must have owned, if he had seen their 
filthy way of feeding and their custom of wallowing and sleep- 
ing in the mud. 

Another quality which his servants had discovered in several 
Yahoos to him was wholly unaccountable. He said a fancy 
would sometimes take a Yahoo to retire into a corner, to lie 
down, and howl and groan, and spurn away all that came near 
him, although he were young and fat, and wanted neither food 
nor water ; nor could the servants imagine what could possibly 
ail him. And the only remedy they found was to set him to hard 
work, after which he would infallibly come to himself. To 
this I was silent, out of partiality to my own kind ; yet here 
I could plainly discover the true seeds of spleen,® which seizes 
on the lazy, the luxurious, and the rich ; who, if they were 
forced to undergo the same regimen, would no doubt be cured. 


CHAPTER VII 


The Author relates several Particulars of the Yahoos — The great 
Virtues of the Houyhnhnms — The Education and Exercise of 
their Youth — Their General Assembly. 

As I ought to have understood human nature much better 
than I supposed it possible for my master to do, so it was 
easy to apply the character he gave of the Yahoos to myself 
and my countrymen ; and I believed I could yet make further 
discoveries from my own observation. I therefore often begged 
his honor to let me go among the herds of Yahoos in the neigh- 
borhood. He always very graciously consented, being perfectly 
convinced that the hatred I bore those brutes would never 
sillier me to be corrupted by them,; and his honor ordered one 
of his seiwants, a strong sorrel nag, very honest and good- 
natured, to be my guard. Without such protection I durst not 
undertake such adventures ; for I have already told the reader 
how much I was pestered by those odious animals upon my 
first arrival ; and I afterwards failed very narrowly, three or 
four times, of falling into their clutches, when I happened to 
stray at any distance without my hanger. 

They are prodigiously nimble from their infancy. However, 
I once caught a young male of three years old, and endeavored, 
by all marks of tenderness, to make it quiet ; but the little 
imp fell a-squalling, and scratching,' and biting with such vio- 
lence that I was forced to let it go ; and it was high time ; for 
a whole troop of old ones came about us at the noise, but find- 
ing the cub was safe (for away it ran) and my sorrel nag being 
by, they durst not venture near us. 

209 


p 


210 


GULLIVEli’S TBAVELS 


By what I could discover the Yahoos appear to be the most 
unteachable of all animals ; their capacities never reaching 
higher than to draw or carry burdens. Yet I am of opinion 
this defect ariseth chiefly from a perverse, restive disposition ; 
for they are cunning, malicious, treacherous, and revengeful. 

The Houyhnhnms keep the Yahoos needed for present use in 
huts not far from the house ; but the rest are sent abroad to 
certain fields, where they dig up roots, eat several kinds of 
herbs, and search about for carrion, or sometimes catch weasels 
and rats, which they greedily devour. Nature hath taught 
them to dig deep holes with their nails on the side of a rising 
ground, wherein they lie by themselves ; only the kennels of 
the females are larger, sufficient to hold two or three cubs. 

They swim from their infancy like frogs, and are able to 
continue long under water, where they often take fish, which 
the females carry home to their young. 

Having lived three years in this country, the reader will 
expect that I should give him some account of the manners 
and customs of its inhabitants, which it was indeed my princi- 
pal study to learn. 

As these noble Houyhnhnms are endowed by nature with a 
general disposition to all virtues, and have no conceptions or 
ideas of what is evil in a rational creature, so their grand 
maxim is, to cultivate reason, and to be wholly governed by it. 

Friendship and benevolence are the two principal virtues 
among the Houyhnhnms, and these not confined to particular 
objects, but universal to the whole race ; for a stranger from 
the remotest part is equally well treated with the nearest neigh- 
bor, and wherever he goes, looks upon himself as at home. 
They preserve decency and civility in the highest degrees, but 
are altogether ignorant of ceremony. They will have it that 
nature teaches them to love the whole species, and only maketh 
a distinction of persons where there is a superior degree of 
virtue. 


A VOYAGE TO THE IIOUYHNHNMS 


211 


In educating the youth of both sexes their method is ad- 
mirable, and highly deserves our imitation. These are not 
suffered to taste a grain of oats, except upon certain days, till 
eighteen years old ; nor milk, but very rarely ; and in summer 
they graze two hours in the morning, and as long in the even- 
ing, which their parents do likewise ; but the servants are not 
allowed above half that time, and a great part of their grass is 
brought home, which they eat at the most convenient hours, 
when they can be best spared from work. 

Temperance, industry, exercise, and cleanliness are the lessons 
equally enjoined to the young ones of both sexes ; and my mas- 
ter thought it monstrous in us to give the females a different 
kind of education from the males, except in some articles of 
domestic management. 

But the Houyhnhnms train up their youth to strength, 
speed, and hardiness by exercising them in running races up 
and down steep hills and over hard and stony grounds ; and 
when they are all in a sweat they are ordered to leap over head 
and ears into a pond or a river. Four times a year the youth 
of each district meet to show their proficiency in running and 
leaping, and other feats of strength and agility, where the 
victor is rewarded with a song made in his or her praise. On ' 
this festival the servants drive a herd of Yahoos into the field, 
laden with hay and oats and milk, for a repast for the Hou- 
yhnhnms ; after which these brutes are immediately driven back, 
for fear of being noisome to the assembly. 

Every fourth year, at the vernal equinox,® there is a repre- 
sentative council of the whole nation, which meets in a plain 
about twenty miles from our house, and continues about five 
or six days. Here they inquire into the state and condition of 
the several districts ; whether they abound or be deficient in 
hay or oats, or cows or Yahoos; and wherever there is any 
w\ant (which is but seldom) it is immediately supplied by unani- 
mous consent and contribution. 


CHAPTER VIII 


A grand debate at the General Assembly of the Houyhnhnms — 
The Learning of the Houyhnhnms — Their Buildings — Their 
Manner of Burial — The Defectiveness of their Language. 

One of these grand assemblies was held in my time, about 
three months before my departure, whither my master went, 
as the representative of our district. In this council Avas re- 
sumed their old debate, and indeed the only debate that e\"er 
happened in that country ; whereof my master, after his return, 
gave me a very particular account. 

The question to be debated was, Whether the Yahoos should 
be exterminated from the face of the earth ? One of the mem- 
bers for the affirmative offered several arguments of great 
strength and weight, alleging that as the Yahoos were the 
most filthy, noisome, and deformed animal which nature ever 
produced, so they were the most restive and inclocible, mis- 
chievous and malicious. They would suck the teats of the 
Houyhnhnms’ cows, kill and devour their cats, trample down 
their oats and grass, if they were not continually watched, and 
commit a thousand other extravagances. He took notice of a 
general tradition, that Yahoos had not been always in their 
country ; but that, many ages ago, tAvo of these brutes ap- 
peared together upon a mountain; Avhether produced by the 
heat of the sun upon corrupted mud and slime, or from the 
ooze or froth of the sea, Avas never known ; that their brood in 
a short time grew so numerous as to overrun and infest the 
Avhole nation ; that the Houyhnhnms, to get rid of this evil, 

212 


A VOYAGE TO THE HOUYHNHNMS 


213 


made a general hunting, and at last enclosed the whole herd ; 
and, destroying the old ones, every Houyhnhnm kept two 
young ones in a kennel, and brought them to such a degree of 
tameness as an animal so savage by nature can be capable of 
acquiring ; using them for draught and carriage ; that the in- 
habitants, taking a fancy to use the service of the Yahoos, had 
very imprudently neglected to cultivate the breed of asses, 
which are a comely animal, easily kept, more tame and orderly ; 
strong enough for labor, although they yield to the other in 
agility of body ; and if their braying be no agreeable sound, it 
is far preferable to the horrible bowlings of the Yahoos. 

My master approved of the tradition mentioned by the honor- 
able member who spoke before, and affirmed that the two 
Yahoos said to be first seen among them had been driven 
thither over the sea ; that, coming to land, and being foi’saken 
by their companions, they retired to the mountains, and, de- 
generating by degrees, became in process of time much more 
savage than those of their own species in the country whence 
these two originals came. The reason of this assertion was that 
he had now in his possession a certain wonderful Yahoo (mean- 
ing myself) which most of them had heard of, and many of 
them had seen. He then related to them how he first found 
me ; that my body was all covered with an artificial composure 
of the skins and hairs of other animals ; that I spoke in a 
language of my own, and had thoroughly learned theirs ; that 
I had related to him the accidents which brought me thither. 
He added how I had endeavored to persuade him that in my 
own and other countries the Yahoos acted as the governing, 
rational animal, and held the Houyhnhnms in servitude ; that 
he observed in me all the qualities of a Yahoo, only a little 
more civilized by some tincture of reason ; which, however, was 
in a degree as far inferior to the Houyhnhnm race as the Ya- 
hoos of their country w^ere to me. 

The Houyhnhnms have no letters, and consequently their 


214 


GULLIVER^S TRAVELS 


knowledge is all traditional ; but, there happening few events 
of any moment among a people so well united, naturally dis- 
posed to every virtue, wholly governed by reason, and cut off 
from all commerce with other nations, the historical part is 
easily preserved, without burdening their memory. I have al- 
ready observed that they are subject to no diseases, and there- 
fore can have no need of physicians. However, they have 
excellent medicines, composed of herbs, to cure accidental 
bruises, and cuts in the pastern, or frog of the foot, by sharp 
stones, as well as other maims and hurts in the several parts 
of the body. 

They calculate the year by the revolutions of the sun and the 
moon, but use no subdivisions into weeks. They are well 
enough acquainted with the motions of those two luminaries, 
and understand the nature of eclipses ; and this is the utmost 
progress of their astronomy. 

In poetry they must be allowed to excel all other mortals, 
wherein the justness of their similes, and the minuteness, as 
well as exactness, of their descriptions, are indeed inimitable. 
Their verses abound very much in both of these, and usually 
contain either some exalted notions of friendship and benevo- 
lence, or the praises of those who were victors in races and 
other bodily exercises. Their buildings, although very rude 
and simple, are not inconvenient, but well contrived to defend 
them from cold and heat. They have a kind of tree, w^hich, at 
forty years old, loosens in the root, and falls with the first 
storm. It grows very straight, and being pointed like stakes 
with a sharp stone (for the Houyhnhnms know not the use of 
iron) they stick them erect in the ground, about ten inches 
asunder, and then weave in oat straw, or sometimes slender 
saplings, betwixt them. The roof is made after the same 
manner, and so are the doors. 

The Houyhnhnms use the hollow part between the pastern 
and the hoof of their forefeet .as we do our hands, and this with 


A VOYAGE TO THE HOUYHNHNMS 


215 


greater dexterity than I could at first imagine. I have seen a 
white mare of our family thread a needle (which I lent her on 
purpose) with that joint. They milk their cows, reap their 
oats, and do all the work which requires hands in the same 
manner. They have a kind of hard flints, which, by grinding 
against other stones, they form into instruments that serve 
instead of wedges, axes, and hammers. With tools made of 
these flints they likewise cut their hay and reap their oats, 
which there grow naturally in several fields ; the Yahoos draw 
home the sheaves in carriages, and the servants tread them in 
certain covered huts, to get out the grain, which is kept in 
stores. They make a rude kind of earthen and wooden vessels, 
and bake the former in the sun. 

If they can avoid casualties they die only of old age, and are 
buried in the obscurest places that can be found j their friends 
and relations expressing neither joy nor grief at their departure ; 
nor does the dying person discover the least regret that he 
is leaving the world, any more than if he were returning home 
from a visit to one of his neighbors. I remember my master 
having once made an appointment with a friend and his family 
to come to his house upon some aflair of importance : on the 
day fixed the mistress and her two children came very late. 
She made two excuses ; first for her husband, who, as she said, 
happened that very morning to Ihnuwnh. The word is 
strongly expressive in their language, but not easily rendered 
into English. It signifies to retire to his first mother. Her 
excuse for not coming sooner was that her husband dying late 
in the morning, she was a good while consulting her servants 
about a convenient place where his body should be laid : and I 
observed she behaved herself at our house as cheerfully as the 
rest. She died about three months after. 

They live generally to seventy or seventy-five years, very 
seldom to fourscore. Some weeks before their death they feel 
a gradual decay, but without pain. During this time they are 


216 


GULLIVER’S TRAVELS 


much visited by their friends, because they cannot go abroad 
with their usual ease and satisfaction. However, about ten 
days before their death, which they seldom fail in computing, 
they return the visits that have been made them by those who 
are nearest in the neighborhood, being carried in a convenient 
sledge drawn by Yahoos ; a vehicle they use, not only upon 
this occasion, but when they grow old, on long journeys, or when 
they are lamed by any accident. When the dying Houyhn- 
hnms return those visits they take a solemn leave of their 
friends, as if they were going to some remote part of the coun- 
try, where they designed to pass the rest of their lives. 

It may be worth observing, that the Houyhnhnms have no 
word in their language to express anything that is evil, except 
what they borrow from the deformities or ill qualities of the 
Yahoos. Thus they denote the folly of a servant, an omission 
of a child, a stone that cuts their feet, a continuance of foul or 
unseasonable weather, and the like, by adding to each the 
epithet of Yahoo. For instance : “ hhnm Yahoo, whnaholm 
Yahoo, ynlhmndivihlma Yahoo j” and an ill-contrived house, 
“ ynholmhnmrohlnw Yahoo.” 


CHAPTER IX 


The Author’s happy Life among the Houyhnhnms — His great im- 
provement in Virtue by conversing with them — Their Con- 
versations — The Author has notice given him by his Master, 
that he must depart from the Country — He falls into a swoon 
for grief, but submits — He contrives and finishes a Canoe by 
the help of a fellow-servant, and puts to sea at a venture. 

By this time I had settled my ways of life to my own 
heart’s content. My master had ordered a room to be made 
for me, after their manner, about six yards from his house, the 
sides and floors of which I plastered with clay, and covered 
with rush-mats of my own contriving. I had beaten hemp, 
which there grows wild, and made of it a sort of ticking ; this 
I filled with the feathers of several birds I had taken with 
snares made of Yahoos’ hairs. I had worked two chairs with 
my knife, the sorrel nag helping me. When my clothes were 
worn to rags, I made myself others with the skins of rabbits, 
and of a certain beautiful animal about the same size, called 
nnuJmoh^ the skin of which is covered with a fine down. Of 
these I made very tolerable stockings. I soled my shoes with 
wood, wliich I cut from a tree, and fitted to the upper-leather ; 
and when the leather was worn out I supplied it with the 
skins of Yahoos dried in the sun. I often got honey out of 
hollow trees, which I ate with my bread. No man could more 
verify the truth of the two maxims that, “Nature is very easily 
satisfied”; and that, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” 
I enjoyed perfect health of body and tranquillity of mind. 

217 


218 


GULLIVER^ S TRAVELS 


I had the favor of being admitted to several Houyhnhnms, 
who came to visit or dine Avith my master ; where his honor 
graciously suffered me to wait in the room and listen to their 
discourse. Both he and his company would often ask me 
questions. I had also sometimes the honor of attending my 
master in his visits to others. I never presumed to speak, 
except in answer to a question ; and I was infinitely delighted 
with the station of a humble auditor in such convei-sations, 
where nothing passed but what Avas useful, expressed in the 
feAvest and most significant Avords. I may add, without vanity, 
that my presence often gave them sufficient matter for discourse, 
because it afforded my master an occasion of letting his friends 
into the history of me and my country, upon Avhich they Avere 
all pleased to descant, in a manner not very advantageous to 
humankind ; and for that reason I shall not repeat what they 
said : only I freely confess that I should be prouder to listen 
to the discourses of my master and his friends than to dictate 
to the greatest and wisest assembly in Europe, At first I did 
not feel that natural awe which the Yahoos and all other ani- 
mals bear toAvard them ; but it greAV upon me by degrees, and 
was mingled Avith a respectful love and gratitude, that they 
Avould condescend to distinguish me from the rest of my 
species. 

When I thought of my family, my friends, and my country- 
men, or the human race in general,' I considered them, as they 
really were. Yahoos, in shape and disposition. When I hap- 
pened to behold the reflection of my OAvn form in a lake or a 
fountain I turned away my face in horror and detestation 
of myself, and could better endure the sight of a common 
Yahoo than of my own person. 

By conversing with the Houyhnhnms, and looking upon 
them with delight, I fell to imitate their gait and gesture, 
which is noAV grown into a habit ; and my friends often tell me 
in a blunt way that I trot like a horse ; Avhich, hoAA^ever, I take 


A VOYAGE TO THE IIOUYHNHNMS 


219 


for a great compliment. Neither shall I disown that in speak- 
ing I am apt to fall into the voice and manner of the Hou- 
yhnhnms, and hear myself ridiculed on that account, without 
the least mortification. 

In the midst of all this happiness, and when I looked upon 
myself to be fully settled for life, my master sent for me one 
morning a little earlier than his usual hour. I observed by his 
countenance that he was in some perplexity, and at a loss how 
to begin what he had to speak. After a short silence, he told 
me he did not know how' I would take what he was going to 
say. That in the last general assembly, when the affair of the 
Yahoos was entered upon, the representatives had taken offence 
at his keeping a Yahoo in his family, more like a Houyhnhnm 
than a brute animal ; that he was known frequently to con- 
verse with me ; that such a practice was not agreeable to reason 
or nature, nor a thing ever heard of before among them. The 
assembly did therefore exhort him to command me to swim 
back to the place whence I came. 

My master added that he was daily pressed by the Houyhn- 
hnms of the neighborhood to have the assembly’s exhortation 
executed, which he could not put off much longer. He doubted 
it would be impossible for me to swim to another country, and 
therefore wished I would contrive some sort of vehicle, resem- 
bling those I had described to him, that might cany me on the 
sea, in which work I should have the assistance of his own ser- 
vants, as well as those of his neighbors. He concluded that, 
for his own part, he could have been content to keep me in his 
service as long as I lived, because he found I had cured myself 
of some bad habits and dispositions, by endeavoring, as far as 
my inferior nature was capable, to imitate the Houyhnhnms. 

I should here observe to the reader that a decree of the gen- 
eral assembly in this country is expressed by the word hnhloayn, 
which signifies an exhortation; for they have no conception 
how a rational creature can be compelled, but only advised or 


220 


GULLIVER’S TRAVELS 


exhorted ; because no person can disobey reason without giving 
up his claim to be a rational creature. 

I was struck with the utmost grief and despair at my mas- 
ter’s discourse ; and being unable to support the agonies I was 
under, I fell into a swoon at his feet. When I came to myself 
he told me that he concluded I had been dead (for these people 
are subject to no such imbecilities of nature). I answered in 
a faint voice that death would have been a happiness ; that 
although I could not blame the assembly’s exhortation, or the 
urgency of his friends, yet, in my weak and corrupt judgment, 
I thought it might consist with reason to have been less rigor- 
ous ; that I could not swim a league, and probably the nearest 
land to theirs might be distant above a hundred ; that many 
materials necessary for making a small vessel to carry me off 
were wholly wanting in this country ; which, however, I would 
attempt, in obedience and gratitude to his honor. 

My master, in a few words, made me a very gracious reply ; 
allowed me the space of two months to finish my boat ; and 
ordered the sorrel nag, my fellow-servant, to follow my instruc- 
tions ; because I told my master that his help would be suffi- 
cient, and I knew he had a tenderness for me. 

In his company my first business was to go to that part of 
the coast where my rebellious crew had set me on shore. I got 
upon a height, and looking on every side into the sea, fancied I 
saw a small island toward the northeast. I took out my pocket- 
glass, and could then clearly distinguish it about five leagues off, 
as I computed ; but it appeared to the sorrel nag to be only a blue 
cloud ; for as he had no conception of any country besides his own, 
so he could not be expert in distinguishing remote objects at sea. 

After I had discovered this island I considered no further, 
but resolved it should, if possible, be the first place of my 
banishment, leaving the consequence to fortune. 

I returned home, and consulting with the sorrel nag, we went 
into a copse at some distance, where I with my knife, and he 


A VOYAGE rO THE HOUYHNHNMS 


221 


with a sharp flint, fastened to a wooden handle, cut down sev- 
eral oak saplings, about the thickness of a walking-staff, and 
some larger pieces. But I shall not trouble the reader with a 
particular description of my own mechanics. Let it suffice to 
say, that in six weeks’ time, with the help of the sorrel nag, 
who performed the parts that required most labor, I finished a 
sort of Indian canoe, but much larger, covering it with the 
skins of Yahoos, well stitched together with hempen threads of 
my own making. My sail was likewise composed of the skins 
of the same animal ; but I made use of the skins of the young- 
est I could get, the older being too tough and thick ; and I 
likewise provided myself with four paddles. I laid in a stock 
of boiled flesh of rabbits and fowls, and took with me two ves- 
sels, one filled with milk, and the other with water. 

I tried my canoe in a large pond near my master’s house, 
and then corrected in it what was amiss, stopping all the 
chinks with Yahoo’s tallow, till I found it stanch, and able to 
bear me and my freight ; and when it was as complete as I 
could possibly make it, I had it drawn on a carriage very gently 
by Yahoos to the seaside, under the conduct of the sorrel nag 
and another servant. 

When all was ready, and the day came for my departure, I 
took leave of my master and lady, and the whole family, my 
eyes flowing with tears, and my heart quite sunk with grief 
But his honor, out of curiosity, and perhaps partly out of kind- 
ness, was determined to see me in my canoe, and got several of 
his neighboring friends to accompany him. I was forced to 
wait above an hour for the tide ; and then observing the wind 
very fortunately bearing toward the island to which I intended 
to steer my course, I took a second leave of my master ; but as 
I was going to prostrate myself to kiss his hoof, he did me the 
honor to raise it gently to my mouth. 

I paid my respects to the rest of the Houyhnhnms, in his honor’s 
company, then getting into my canoe I pushed' off from shore. 


CHAPTER X 


The Author’s dangerous Voyage — He arrives at New Holland — 
Is wounded with an arrow by one of the Natives — Is seized, 
and carried by force into a Portuguese ship — The great civili- 
ties of the Captain — The Author arrives in England. 

I BEGAN this desperate voyage on February 15, 1715, at 
nine o’clock in the morning. The wind was very favorable ; 
however, I made use at first only of my paddles ; but consider- 
ing I should soon be weary, and that the wind might chop about, 

I ventured to set up my little sail, and thus, with the help of 
the tide, I went at the rate of a league and a half an hour, as 
near as I could guess. My master and his friends continued on 
the shore till I was almost out of sight ; and I often heard the 
sorrel nag (who always loved me) crying out Hnuy ilia nyha, 
majah Yahoo ; Take care of thyself, gentle Yahoo.” 

My design was, if possible, to discover some small island 
uninhabited, yet sufficient, by my labor, to furnish me with the 
necessaries of life ; so horrible was the idea I conceived of re- 
turning to live in the society, and under the government of 
Yahoos. For in such a solitude as I desired, I could at least 
enjoy my own thoughts, and reflect with delight on the virtues 
of those inimitable Houyhnhnms, without any opportunity of 
degenerating into the vices and corruptions of my own species* 

The reader may remember what I related when my crew 
conspired against me, and confined me to my cabin, how I con- 
tinued there several weeks, without knowing what course we 
took j and when I ^yv^as put ashore in the long-boat, ho\y the, 

222 


A VOYAGE TO THE IIOUYIINIINMS 


223 


sailors told me, Avitli oaths, that they knew not in what part of 
the world we were. However, I did then believe us to be 
about ten degrees southward of the Cape of Good Hope, as I 
gathered from some general words I overheard among them, 
being, I supposed, to the southeast in their intended voyage 
to Madagascar. And although this were but little better than 
conjecture, yet I resolved to steer my course eastward, hoping 
to reach the coast of New Holland, and perhaps some sucli 
island as I desired, lying westward of it. The wind was full 
west ; and by six in the evening I computed I had gone east- 
ward at least eighteen leagues, when I spied a very small island 
about half a league off, which I soon reached. It was nothing 
but a rock with one creek naturally arched by the force of 
tempests. Here I put in my canoe, and climbing a part of the 
rock, I could plainly discover land to the east, extending from 
south to north. I lay all night in my canoe, and repeating my 
voyage early in the morning, I arrived in seven hours to the 
southeast point of New Holland.® 

I saw no inhabitants in the place where I landed, and being 
unarmed I was afraid of venturing far into the country. I 
found some shellfish on the shore, and ate them raw, not daring 
to kindle a fire for fear of being discovered by the natives. I 
continued three days feeding on oysters and limpets to save my 
own provisions ; and I fortunately found a brook of excellent 
water, which gave me great relief. 

On the fourth day, venturing out early, a little too far, I saw 
twenty or thirty natives upon a height, not above five hundred 
yards from me. They were round a fire, as I could discover 
by the smoke. One of them spied me, and gave notice to the 
rest; and five of them advanced toward me. I made what 
haste I could to the shore, and getting into my canoe, shoved 
off. The savages observing me retreat, ran after me, and before 
I could get far enough away, discharged an arrow, which 
wounded me deeply on the inside of my left knee; I shall carry 


224 


GULLIVER'S TRAVELS 


the mark to my grave. I apprehended the arrow might be 
poisoned : and paddling out of the reach of their darts (being a 
calm day) I made a shift to suck the wound, and dressed it as 
well as I could. 

I was at a loss what to do ; for I durst not return to the 
same landing-place, but stood to the north, and was forced to 
paddle; for the wind, though very gentle, was against me, 
blowing from the northwest. As I was looking about for a 
secure landing-place, I saw a sail, which appearing every minute 
more visible, I was in some doubt whether I should wait for 
it or no ; but at last my detestation of the Yahoo race pre- 
vailed, and, turning my canoe, I sailed and paddled together to 
the south, and got into the same creek whence I set out in the 
morning, choosing rather to trust myself among the barbarians 
than live with European Yahoos. I drew up my canoe as close 
as I could to the shore, and hid myself behind a stone by the 
little brook, which, as I have already said, was excellent 
water. 

The ship came within half a league of this creek, and sent out 
her long-boat with vessels to take in fresh water (for the place, it 
seems, was very well known) ; but I did not observe it till the 
boat was almost on shore, and it was too late to seek another 
hiding-place. The seamen, at their landing, observed my canoe, 
and, rummaging it all over, easily conjectured that the owner 
could not be far off. Four of them, well armed, searched every 
cranny and lurking-hole, till at last they found me, flat on my 
face, behind the stone. They gazed awhile in wonder at my 
strange, uncouth dress : my coat made of skins, my wooden- 
soled shoes, and my furred stockings. One of the seamen, in 
Portuguese, bid me rise, and asked who I was. I understood 
that language very well, and, getting upon my feet, said I was 
a poor Yahoo, banished from the Houyhnhnms, and desired 
they would please to let me depart. They were astonished to 
hear me answer them in their own tongue and saw by my 


A VOYAGE TO THE HOUYHNHNMS 


225 


complexion I must be a European ; but were at a loss to know 
what I meant by Yahoos and Houyhnhnms ; and at the same 
time fell a-laughing at my strange tone in speaking, which re- 
sembled the neighing of a horse. I trembled all the while 
betwixt fear and hatred. I again desired leave to depart, and 
was gently moving to my canoe; but they laid hold of me, 
desiring to know what country I was of ? whence I came ? with 
many other questions. I told them I was born in England, 
whence I came about five years ago, and then their country and 
ours were at peace. I therefore hoped they would not treat 
me as an enemy, since I meant them no harm, but was a poor 
Yahoo, seeking some desolate place where to pass the remainder 
of his unfortunate life. 

When they began to talk I thought I never heard anything 
so unnatural ; for it appeared to me as monstrous as if a dog 
or cow should speak in England, or a Yahoo in Houyhnhnm- 
land. The honest Portuguese were equally amazed at my 
strange dress, and the odd manner of delivering my words, 
which, however, they understood very well, They spoke to me 
with great humanity, and said they were sure their captain 
would carry me gratis to Lisbon, whence I might return to 
my own country ; that two of the seamen would go back to 
the ship, inform the captain of what they had seen, and receive 
his orders. In the meantime, unless I would give my solemn 
oath not to fly, they would secure me by force. I thought it 
best to comply with their proposal. They were very curious to 
know my story, but I gave them little satisfaction, and they 
all conjectured that my misfortunes had impaired my reason. 
In two hours the boat, which went laden with vessels of 
water, returned with the captain’s command to fetch me on 
board. I fell on my knees to beg my liberty, but all was in 
vain ; and the men, having tied me with cords, heaved me into 
the boat, whence I was taken into the ship, and thence into the 
captain’s cabin. 

Q 


226 


GULLIVER’S TRAVELS 


His name was Pedro de Mendez ; and he was a very cour- 
teous and generous person. He entreated me to give some 
account of myself, and desired to know what I would eat or 
drink ; said I should be used as well as himself ; and spoke so 
many obliging things that I wondered to find such civilities from 
a Yahoo. However, I remained silent and sullen. I was ready 
to faint at the very smell of him and his men. At last I de- 
sired something to eat out of my own canoe ; but he ordered 
me a chicken, and some excellent wine, and then directed that 
I should be put to bed in a very clean cabin. I would not 
undress myself, but lay on the bedclothes, and in half an hour 
stole out, when I thought the crew was at dinner, and, getting 
to the side of the ship, was going to leap into the sea, and swim 
for my life rather than continue among Yahoos. But one of the 
seamen prevented me, and, having informed the captain, I was 
chained in my cabin. 

After dinner Don Pedro came to me, and desired to know my 
reason for so desperate an attempt ; assured me he only meant 
to do me all the service he was able ; and spoke so very mov- 
ingly that at last I condescended to treat him like an animal that 
had some little portion of reason. I gave him a very short rela- 
tion of my voyage ; of the conspiracy against me by my own 
men ; of the country where they set me on shore, and of my 
five years’ residence there. All which he looked upon as if it 
were a dream or a vision ; whereat I took great offence : for I 
had quite forgot the faculty of lying, so peculiar to Yahoos in 
all countries where they preside, and consequently the disposi- 
tion of suspecting truth in others of their own species. I asked 
him whether it were the custom in his country to say the thing 
that was not ? I assured him that if I had lived a thousand 
years in Houyhnhnm-land I should never have heard a lie from 
the meanest servant ; that I was altogether indifferent whether 
he believed me or no ; but, however, in return for his favors, 
I would give so much allowance to the corruption of his nature 


A VOYAGE TO THE HOUYHNHNMS 


227 


as to answer any objection he would please to make, and then 
he might easily discover the truth. 

The captain, a wise man, after many endeavors to catch me 
tripping in some part of my story, at last began to have a 
better opinion of my veracity. But he added, that since I pro- 
fessed so inviolable an attachment to truth, I must give him my 
word of honor to bear him company in this voyage, without 
attempting anything against my life; or else he would con- 
tinue me a prisoner till we arrived at Lisbon. I gave him the 
promise he required ; but at the same time protested that I 
would suffer the greatest hardships rather than return to live 
among Yahoos. 

Our voyage passed without any considerable accident. In 
gratitude to the captain, I sometimes sat with him at his ear- 
nest request, and strove to conceal my antipathy to humankind, 
although it often broke forth ; which he suffered to pass with- 
out observation. But the greatest part of the day I confined 
myself to my cabin, to avoid seeing any of the crew. The cap- 
tain had often entreated me to strip myself of my savage dress, 
and offered to lend me the best suit of clothes he had. This I 
would not be prevailed on to accept, abhorring to cover myself 
with anything that had been on the back of a Yahoo. I only 
desired he would lend me two clean shirts, which, having been 
washed since he wore them, I believed would not so much defile 
me. These I changed every second day, and washed them myself. 

We arrived at Lisbon, November 5, 1715. At our landing 
the captain’ forced me to cover myself with his cloak, to pre- 
vent the rabble from crowding about me. I was conveyed to 
his own house ; and I conjured him to conceal from all persons 
what I had told him of the Houyhnhnms ; because the least 
hint of such a story would draw numbers of people to see me. 
The captain persuaded me to accept a suit of clothes newly 
made ; but I would not suffer the tailor to take my measure. 
However, Don Pedro being almost of my size, they fitted me 


228 


GULLIVER’S TRAVELS 


well enough. He accoutred me with other necessaries, all new, 
which I aired for twenty-four hours, before I would use them. 

The captain had no wife, nor above three servants, none of 
which were suffered to attend at meals ; and his whole deport- 
ment was so obliging, added to a very good human understand- 
ing, that I really began to tolerate his company. He gained 
so far upon me that I ventured to look out of the back window. 
By degrees I was brought into another room, whence I peeped 
into the street, but drew my head back in a fright. In a 
week’s time I found my terror gradually lessened, but my hatred 
and contempt seemed to increase. I was at last bold enough 
to walk the street in his company, but kept my nose well 
stopped with rue, or sometimes with tobacco. 

In ten days Don Pedro, to whom I had given some account 
of my domestic affairs, put it upon me, as a matter of honor 
and conscience, that I ought to return to my native country, 
and live at home with my wife and children. He told me there 
was an English ship in the port just ready to sail, and he 
would furnish me with all things necessary. It would be ted- 
ious to repeat his arguments, and my contradictions. He said 
it was altogether impossible to find such a solitary island as I 
had desired to live in ; but I might command in my own house, 
and pass my time as recluse as I pleased. 

I complied at last, finding I could not do better. I left Lis- 
bon the 24th day of November, in an English merchantman, 
but who was the master I never inquired. Don Pedro accom- 
panied me to the ship, and lent me twenty pounds. He took 
kind leave of me, and embraced me at parting, which I bore as 
well as I could. During this last voyage I pretended* I was 
sick, and kept close in my cabin. On the 5th of December, 
1715, we cast anchor in the Downs about nine in the morning, 
and at three in the afternoon I got safe to my house at Redriff. 

My wife and family received me with great surprise and joy, 
because they concluded me certainly dead ; but I must freely 


A VOYAGE TO THE HOUYHNHNMS 


229 


confess the sight of them filled me only with disgust and con- 
tempt ; and the more, by reflecting on the near alliance I had 
to them. For although, since my unfortunate exile from the 
Houyhnhnm country, I had compelled myself to tolerate the 
sight of Yahoos, and to converse with Don Pedro de Mendez, 
yet my memory and imagination were perpetually filled with 
the virtues and ideas of those exalted Houyhnhnms. 

As soon as I entered the house my wife took me in her arms 
and kissed me ; at which, having not been used to the touch of 
that odious animal for so many years, I fell into a swoon for 
almost an hour. At the time I am writing, it is five years 
since my last return to England. During the first year I 
could not endure my wife or children in my presence. The 
very smell of them was intolerable. Much less could I suffer 
them to eat in the same room. To this hour they dare not 
presume to touch my bread, or drink out of the same cup ; 
neither was I ever able to let one of them take me by the hand. 
The first money I laid out was to buy two young horses, which 
I kept in a good stable; and, next to them, the groom is my 
greatest favorite; for I feel my spirits revived by the smell he 
contracts in the stable. My horses understand me tolerably 
well ; and I converse with them at least four hours every day. 
They are strangers to bridle or saddle ; and they live in great 
amity with me, and friendship to each other. 


CHAPTER XI 


The Author’s Veracity— His Censure of those Travellers who swerve 
from the Truth — The Author clears himself from any sinister 
ends in writing — The method of planting Colonies — The right 
of the Crown to those Countries described by the Author — The 
Difficulty of conquering them — The Author takes his last 
leave of the Reader — Proposeth his Manner of Living for the 
future — Gives good Advice, and concludes. 

Thus, gentle reader, I have given thee a faithful history of 
my travels for more than sixteen years ; wherein I have not 
been so studious of ornament as of truth ; because my principal 
design was to inform, and not to amuse thee. 

A traveller’s chief aim should be to make men wiser and 
better, and to improve their minds by the example, of what 
they deliver concerning foreign places. 

I could heartily wish a law was enacted that every traveller, 
before he were permitted to publish his voyages, should be 
obliged to make oath before the Lord High Chancellor, that 
all he intended to print was absolutely true to the best of his 
knowledge; for then the world would no longer be deceived. 
It hath given me a great disgust against this part of reading, 
and some indignation, to see the credulity of mankind so impu- 
dently abused. Therefore, since my acquaintance were pleased 
to think my poor endeavors might not he unacceptable to my 
countiy, I imposed on myself, as a maxim never to be swerved 
from, that I would strictly adhere to truth ; neither indeed can 
I be ever under the least temptation to vary from it, while I 
retain in my mind the lectures and example of my noble master 

230 


A VOYAGE TO THE HOUYIINIINMS 


231 


and the other illustrious Houyhnhnms, of whom I had so long 
the honor to be 'an humble hearer. 

I know" very well how" little reputation is to be got by WTit- 
ings, which require neither genius nor learning, nor indeed any 
other talent, except a good memory, or an exact journal. I 
know likewise that w^riters of travels are sunk into oblivion by 
those who come last. And it is highly probable that such 
travellers, who shall hereafter visit the countries described in 
this work of mine, may, by adding many new discoveries of 
their own, jostle me out of vogue, and stand in my place, 
making the world forget that ever I was an author. This 
indeed would be too great a mortification if I wrote for fame ; 
but as my sole intention W"as the public good, I cannot be alto- 
gether disappointed. 

I confess it was whispered to me that I was bound in duty, 
as a subject of England, to have given in a memorial to a secre- 
tary of state at my first coming ; because w'hatever lands are 
discovered by a subject belong to the crown. But I doubt 
whether our conquests in the countries I treat of w"ould be as 
easy as those of Ferdinando Cortez over the Americans. The 
Lilliputians, I think, are hardly worth the charge of a fleet 
and army to reduce them ; and I question wdiether it might be 
prudent to attempt the Brobdingnagians ; or whether an Eng- 
lish army would be much at their ease with the Flying Island 
over their heads. The Houyhnhnms indeed appear not to be 
so well prepared for war, a science to w"hich they are perfect 
strangers, and especially against missive weapons. However, 
supposing myself .to be a minister of state, I could never give 
my advice for invading them. Their prudence, unanimity, un- 
acquaintedness with fear, and their love of their country, would 
amply supply all defects in the military art. Imagine twenty 
thousand of them breaking into the midst of an European army, 
confounding the ranks, overturning the carriages, battering the 
warrior’s faces into mummy by terrible yerks from their hinder 


232 


GULLIVER’S TRAVELS 


hoofs. But, instead of proposals for conquering that magnani- 
mous nation, I rather wish they were in a capacity, or disposi- 
tion, to send a sufficient number of their inhabitants for civiliz- 
ing Europe, by teaching us honor, justice, truth, temperance, 
public spirit, fortitude, friendship, benevolence, and fidelity. 

I had another reason, which made me less forward to en- 
large his majesty’s dominions by my discoveries. To say the 
truth I had conceived a few scruples with relation to the justice 
of princes upon those occasions. For instance a crew of pirates 
are driven by a storm they know not whither ; at length a boy 
discovers land from the topmast ; they go on shore to rob and 
plunder ; they see a harmless people ; are entertained with 
kindness; they give the country a new name; they take formal 
possession of it for their king ; they set up a rotten plank, or 
a stone, for a memorial ; they murder two or three dozen of 
the natives, bring away a couple more by force, for a sample ; 
return home and get their pardon. Here commences a new 
dominion acquired by divine right. Ships are sent with the 
first opportunity; the natives driven out or destroyed; their 
princes tortured to discover their gold ; a free license given to 
all acts of inhumanity and lust, the earth reeking with the 
blood of its inhabitants ; and this execrable crew of butchers, 
employed in so pious an expedition, is a modern colony, sent 
to convert and civilize an idolatrous and barbarous people® ! 

But as those countries, which I have described, do not appear 
to have a desire of being conquered and enslaved, murdered or 
driven out by colonies ; nor abound either in gold, silver, sugar, 
or tobacco, I did humbly conceive they were by no means proper 
objects of our zeal, our valor, or our interest. However, if 
those wdiom it more concerns think fit to be of another opinion, 
I am ready to depose, that no European did ever visit those 
countries before me, if the inhabitants are to be believed, un- 
less a dispute may arise concerning the two Yahoos, said to have 
been seen many ages ago upon a mountain in Houyhnhnm-land. 


A VOYAGE TO THE HOUYHNIINMS 


233 


But, as to the formality of taking possession in my sovereign’s 
name, it never came once into my thoughts ; and if it had, 
yet, as my affairs then stood, I should perhaps, in point of 
prudence and self-preservation, have put it off to a better 
opportunity. 

Having thus answered the only objection that can ever be 
raised against me as a traveller, I here take a final leave of all 
my courteous readers, and return to enjoy my own speculations 
in my little garden at Redriff ; to apply those excellent lessons 
of virtue which I learned among the Houyhnhnms ; to instruct 
the Yahoos of my own family, as far as I shall find them 
docible animals ; to behold my figure often in a glass, and thus, 
if possible, habituate myself in time to tolerate the sight of a 
human creature ; to lament the brutality of Houyhnhnms in 
my own country, but always treat their persons with respect, 
for the sake of my noble master, his family, his friends, and the 
whole Houyhnhiim race, whom these of ours have the honor to 
resemble in all their lineaments, however their intellect came to 
degenerate. 

I began last week to permit my wife to sit at dinner with 
jiie, at the furthest end of a long table ; and to answer (but 
with the utmost brevity) the few questions I asked her. Yet 
the smell of a Yahoo continuing very offensive, I always keep 
my nose well stopped with rue, lavender, or tobacco leaves. 
And although it be hard for a man late in life to remove old 
habits, I am not altogether out of hopes, some time, to suffer a 
neighbor Yahoo in my company without the apprehensions I am 
yet under of his teeth or his claws. 

My reconcilement to the Yahoo kind in general might not be 
so difficult if they would be content with those vices and follies 
only which nature hath entitled them to. I am not in the 
least provoked at the sight of a lawyer, a pickpocket, a colonel, 
.a fool, a lord, a gamester, a politician, or the like ; but when I 
'behold a lump of deformity and diseases, both in body and 


234 


GULLIVER'S TRAVELS 


mind, smitten with pride, it immediately breaks all the measures 
of my patience. 

The Houyhnhnms, who live under the government of reason, 
are no more proud of the good qualities they possess than I 
should be for not wanting a leg or an arm ; whicli no man in 
his wits would boast of, although he must be miserable without 
them. I dwell the longer upon this subject from the desire I 
have to make the society of an English Yahoo by any means 
not insupportable ; and therefore I here entreat those who have 
any tincture of this absurd vice that they will not presume to 
come in my sight. 


NOTES 



1. Lilliputia, as described in the book, would be in Southern Australia. 

2. This was about where Gulliver came to land in Brobdingiiag. 

8. The kingdom of which Laputa was a part was located just south of the 
Aleutian Islands. 

4. The country of the Houyhnhnms was off the south coast of Australia, near 
Tasmania. 

Page 1. Belief in the existence of a nation of pigmies was very 
common in ancient times. Suoh a race is mentioned by Herodotus, 
Aristotle, and Pliny, and pigmies have been referred to and de- 
scribed with more or less definiteness in books o'f travel down to 
comparatively recent times. A good instance of what was affirmed 
with regard to them is furnished by the Greek author Ctesias, who 
lived in the fifth century before Christ. He says there was a black 
tribe in middle India, the members of which rarely exceeded a 
height of two feet and a half ; that they had long hair on their 
heads which fell down their backs to their knees, and a beard that 

235 


236 


NOTES 


came down in front to their feet. After hair and beard were grown 
there was slight need for clothing, and they simply arranged this 
abundant hair of beard and head so that it lay thick all about the 
body, and then fastened a belt around the waist to keep the hair in 
place. 

The Lilliputians, however, were very much smaller than any race 
which was believed to really exist by the old writers, for they were 
only one-twelfth the height of ordinary human beings. The near- 
est genuine approach to their size is to be found in the pigmy 
tribes of Central Africa. These little people attain a height of 
from three to four and one-half feet, and a weight of about ninety 
pounds. They are brown in color, have shapely bodies, small feet 
and hands, and woolly hair. They are expert hunters and kill 
their game with poisoned arrows. Several other pigmy tribes, 
nearly as diminutive, are inhabitants of the Malay peninsula and 
of some of the neighboring islands, including the Philippines. 

Page 1. The famous university at Leyden in Holland was re- 
sorted to for the study of medicine by many persons from England 
in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. 

Page 2. The Levant is the eastern portion of the Mediterranean 
and its coasts. Most of this coast-line is a part of either Turkey or 
Egypt. 

Page 2. The South Seas is a name formerly used for the south- 
ern portion of the Pacific Ocean. 

Page 2. Van Diemen’s Land is now called Tasmania. Explorers 
first began to investigate this part of the world early in the 
seventeenth century, but until after Swift’s time very little was 
known about its geography. Indeed, the general outlines of 
Australia were not determined until Captain Cook explored most 
of the coast in 1770. Swift places Lilliput northwest of Tasmania, 
in latitude 30° 2' S., which would be somewhere in southern 
Australia. 

Page 12. By chairs is meant sedans or sedan chairs. A sedan 


NOTES 


237 


was a portable chair, or a covered vehicle containing a seat for a 
single person. It was usually borne on poles by two men, and 
served the purpose of a cab. 

Page 12. The lives of the Lilliputians were considerably shorter 
than ours, and the monarch’s years were equivalent to forty of 
ours, as the author shows by a comparison of ages a few pages 
farther on. 

Page 13. Pike : an old-time weapon consisting of a long wooden 
shaft with a pointed steel head. 

Page 15. Fobs: small pockets in the front of a man’s trousers. 

• Page 19. Perspective : an old name for a telescope. 

Page 21. A summerset or summersault, as performed by an 
acrobat, consists of springing up and turning heels over head in the 
air and coming down on the feet. 

Page 53. Cabal : a secret association of a few designing persons 
who are intriguing to promote their private views and interests in 
church or state. 

Page 50. Not far north of Tasmania, or Van Diemen’s Land, 
is the eastern portion of Australia, but there are no islands to the 
northeast. 

Page 57. The Downs: an anchorage on the English coast a 
little to the north of Dover., 

Page 57. Greenwich is on the southern bank of the Thames, 
about five miles east of London Bridge. 

Page 57. Redriff is a section of London now called Rotherhithe, 
a mile or two east of the centre of the city. 

Page 58. Surat was at one time the chief commercial city of 
India. It is 160 miles north of Bombay. 

Page 61. The Straits of Madagascar are now called the 
Mozambique Channel. 

Page 61. The Molucca Islands, now known as the Spice Islands, 
are halfway between Australia and the Philippines. It would 
hardly be possible for a vessel to be driven over the course Swift 


238 


NOTES 


describes without encountering Sumatra, Borneo, or some of the 
other islands that lie to the west of the Spice Islands. 

Page 62. The monsoons are winds of the Indian Ocean and 
Eastern seas that blow from the southwest for half the year, and 
in tbe opposite direction for the other half. Judging from what 
Swift says of the course of the vessel after it left the region of the 
Moluccas, it must have gone about two thousand miles in the 
direction of the Sandwich Islands before it came to the shores of 
Brobdingnag. 

I’age 62. Great Tartary included Mongolia and Manchuria, and 
extended in a broad strip westerly from them clear across Asia into 
the borders of Europe. 

l*age 63. That a race of giants existed was long believed, not 
only by the ignorant, but by men of learning. There is a legend 
that Adam, when created, was so tall his head reached the heavens. 
This so annoyed the angels that they remonstrated with the Creator, 
and God placed his hand on Adam’s head and he instantly shrank 
to a height of fifteen hundred feet. After Adam and Eve ate the 
forbidden fruit, th% Garden of Eden was disjoined from the rest of 
the world by the interposition of the ocean, but Adam and his wife 
waded through the depths to their new habitation without fear of 
drowning. 

According to this legend, giants flourished down to the time of 
Noah’s flood, but they were all drowned then except Og, king of 
Bashan, who far outranked in stature all his contemporaries, and 
the waters of the deluge only reached to his knees. Og was alive 
at the time the Israelites fled from Egypt, and when he saw them 
advancing toward his country, he decided to destroy them. The 
Israelite army coyered a space of nine miles, and Og cut a stone 
out of a mountain large enough to cover the whole army. lie put 
it on his head, intending to carry it and throw it on the host of 
Israelites and crush them. But God sent a bird which picked a 
bole through the stone so that it slipped over the giant’s head and 


NOTES 


239 


hung around his neck. The weight bore him to the ground, and 
Moses, who was himself fifteen feet in height, attacked Og and cut 
off his head. 

A belief in the existence of whole nations of giants has been held 
until recently, when the almost complete exploration of the globe has 
pretty effectually dispelled the idea. The ancients supposed that 
giants possessed the interior of Africa. After America was dis- 
covered, it was easy for the imaginative to find in these new regions 
wild men of marvellous stature. Thus, in 1614, an early American 
explorer says of a certain tribe of Virginia Indians that they “are 
a giantly people, strange in proportion, behavior, and attire, their 
voice sounding from them as out of a cave, their tobacco pipes, 
three-quarters of a yard long, sufficient to beat out the brain es of a 
horse (and how many asses’ braines are beat out, or rather men’s 
braines smoked out and asses’ braines haled in, by our lesse pipes 
at home ?). The calf of one of their legs was measured three- 
quarters of a yard about, the rest of his limbs proportionable.” 

The exaggerated accounts of the size of the Patagonians pub- 
lished by Magellan and others had not been refuted in Swift’s time ; 
and as late as 1764 Commodore Byron declared their stature filled 
him with amazement. Hence Brobdingnag did not seem so extrava- 
gant a fiction when it appeared as it does now. 

Page 66. Pistole : a gold coin equal to about $4. 

Page 70. Hanger : a short, broad sword formerly carried. 

I’age 73. Pillion : a pad or cushion for a woman to sit on and 
ride behind a man on horseback. 

Page 73. Crier : a man who gives public notice in the streets by 
loud proclamation. 

Page 75. Leading string : a string tied about a child beneath its 
arms when it is just beginning to walk, the other end of the string 
being held by some older person to prevent the child from falling. 

Page 76. Sanson’s Atlas : a very large atlas that was in use in 
Swift’s time. 


240 


NOTES 


Page 78. Moidore : a gold coin equal to about $6,50. 

Page 79. Cabinet : a private room for writing in and for 
consultations. 

Page 80. Lusus naturae : a natural curiosity. 

Page 90. The inhabitants of Brobdingnag are represented to 
be twelve times as tall as ordinary human beings, and all their 
belongings were of corresponding size. Therefore, as the spire of 
Salisbury Cathedral is 404 feet high, a proportionate height for the 
tower mentioned would have been 4800 feet. 

Page 91. The cupola or dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London 
is one hundred feet wide. 

I’age 97. Monkeys have cheek-pouches in which they can carry 
food till they are ready to chew it. 

Page 101. Spinet : an early form of the piano. 

Page 121. Latitude 44 , longitude 143 would be near the northern 
end of Japan. This is a long distance from where Gulliver landed^ 
but the various journeyings mentioned in the story of his experiences 
in Brobdingnag might easily have taken him that far. 

Page 122. New Holland was the former name of Australia, and 
was not dropped from use until the middle of the nineteenth century. 

Page 129. Latitude 46 , longitude 183 would be not very far south 
of the westernmost of the Aleutian Islands in the northern Pacific. 

Page 133. The harpsichord, like the spinet, was an early form 
of the piano. 

Page 137. Judicial astrology is the superstitious art of foretelling; 
the fate and acts of nations and individuals by study of the positions 
and motions of the sun, moon, and planets. 

Page 138. The dread of comets continued,, even among the^ 
learned, to a very late period. It is now generally known that the 
density of these bodies is very small, and that a', stroke from one of 
them would not produce much mischief. 

Page 139. The word adamant is commonly used, to describes) iv 
metallic or other excessively hard substance. 


JVOTES 


241 


Page 150. In 1710, which was shortly before Gullwer^s Travels 
was written, an ingenious Frenchman succeeded in weaving 
stockings and gloves from spiders’ threads. Various fabrics have 
been made since then from the same material, but with no success 
commercially. 

Page 150. Founder is a lameness in the foot of a horse caused 
by inflammation. 

Page 153. Cephalic : affecting the head or the brain. 

Page 155. The Isle of Wight is about twenty miles long and ten 
broad. 

Page 157. At the battle of Arbela the Persian empire was 
overthrown, 331 b.c. 

Page 157. It is a common, though improbable, tradition that 
Homer was blind. 

Page 175. Buccaneers : a term especially applied to the piratical 
adventurers who preyed on the Spanish commerce in America in 
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. 

Page 176. Madagascar was a great haunt of pirates. 

Page 197. The Prince of Orange was King William III. The 
war with France, begun in his reign and continued by his successor. 
Queen Anne, lasted with short intermissions for nearly three-fourths 
of a century. 

Page 208. By spleen is meant dulness or peevishness without 
sufticient cause. 

I’age 211. The vernal equinox is the time when the sun, moving 
northward, crosses the equator. The date is about March 21. 

Page 223. Gulliver reached New Holland or Australia after a 
boat journey of not much more than one hundred miles. Evidently, 
therefore, the country of the Houyhnhnms was a little* northwest of 
Tasmania. 

Page 232. This description of the manner in which European 
colonies have been founded is in many respects a truthful picture, 
and is particularly applicable to the Spanish settlements in America. 

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CLASSICS 

UNIFORM IN SIZE AND BINDING 
Cloth ------ 25 Cents Each 


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THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 


ENGLISH CLASSICS 


Addison’s Sir Roger de Coverley. Edited by Zelma Gray, East Side 
High School, Saginaw, Mich. 

Browning’s Shorter Poems. Edited by Franklin T. Baker, Teachers 
College, New York City. 

Mrs. Browning’s Poems (Selections from). Edited by He;loise E. 
Hershey. 

Burke’s Speech on Conciliation. Edited by S. C. Newsom, Manual 
Training High School, Indianapolis, Ind. 

Byron’s Childe Harold. Edited by A. J. George, High School, Newton, 
Mass. 

Byron’s Shorter Poems. Edited by Ralph Hartt Bowles, Instructor 
in English in The Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, N.H. 

Carlyle’s Essay on Burns, with Selections. Edited by Willard C. 
Gore, Armour Institute, Chicago, 111 . 

Chaucer’s Prologue to the Book of the Tales of Canterbury, the Knight’s 
Tale, and the Nun’s Priest’s Tale. Edited by Andrew Ingraham, 
Late Headmaster of the Swain Free School, New Bedford, Mass. 

Coleridge’s The Ancient Mariner. Edited by T. F. Huntingion, Leland 
Stanford Junior University. 

Cooper’s Last of the Mohicans. Edited by W. K. WiCKES, Principal of 
the High School, Syracuse, N.Y. 

Cooper’s The Deerslayer. 

De Quincey’s Confessions of an English Opium Eater. Edited by Arthur 
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Dryden’s Palamon and Arcite. Edited by Percival Chubb, Vice- 
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Early American Orations, 1760-1824. Edited by Louie R. Heller, 
Instructor in English in the De Witt Clinton High School, New York 
City. 

Epoch-making Papers in United States History. Edited by M. S. Brown, 
New York University. 

Franklin’s Autobiography. 

Gecrge Eliot’s Silas Mamer. Edited by E. L. GULICK, Lawrenceville 
School, Lawrenceville, N.J. 

Goldsmith’s Vicar of Wakefield. Edited by H. W. Boynton, Phillips 
Academy, Andover, Mass. 

Hawthorne’s Twice-Told Tales. Edited by R. C. Gaston, Richmond 
Hill High School, Borough of Queens, New York City. 

IjPYlng’s Alhambra. Edited by Alfred M. Hitchcock, Public High 
School, Hartford, Conn. 


ENGLISH CLASSICS 


Irving’s Life of Goldsmith. Edited by Gilbert Sykes Blakely, 
Teacher of English in the Morris High School, New York City. 

Irving’s Sketch Book. 

Jonathan Edwards’ Sermons (Selections from). Edited by Professor 
H. N. Gardiner, of Smith College. 

Longfellow’s Evangeline. Edited by Lewis B. Semple, Commercial 
High School, Brooklyn, N.Y. 

Lowell’s Vision of Sir Launfal. Edited by Herbert E. Bates, Manual 
Training High School, Brooklyn, N.Y. 

Macaulay’s Essay on Addison. Edited by C. W. French, Principal of 
Hyde Park High School, Chicago, 111. 

Macaulay’s Essay on Clive. Edited by J. W. Pearce, Assistant Pro- 
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Macaulay’s Essay on Johnson. Edited by William Schuyler, Assist- 
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Macaulay’s Essay on Milton. Edited by C. W. French. 

Macaulay’s Essay on Warren Hastings. Edited by Mrs. M. J. Frick, 
Los Angeles, Cal. 

Milton’s Comus, Lycidas, and Other Poems. Edited by Andrew J. 
George. 

Milton’s Paradise Lost. Books I and II. Edited by W. 1. Crane, 
Steele High School, Dayton, O. 

Palgrave’s Golden Treasury of Songs and Lyrics. 

Plutarch’s Lives of Caesar, Brutus, and Antony. Edited by Martha 
Brier, Teacher of English in the Polytechnic High School, Oakland, 
Cal. 

Poe’s Poems. Edited by Charles W. Kent, Linden Kent Memorial 
School, University of Virginia. 

Poe’s Prose Tales (Selections from). 

Pope’s Homer’s Iliad. Edited by Albert Smyth, Head Professor of 
English Language and Literature, Central High School, Philadelphia, 
Pa. 

Ruskin’s Sesame and Lilies, and King of the Golden River. Edited by 
Herbert E. Bates. 

Scott’s Ivanhoe. Edited by Alfred M. Hitchcock. 

Scott’s Lady of the Lake. Edited by Elizabeth A. Packard, Oakland, 
Cal. 

Scott’s Lay of the Last Minstrel. Edited by Ralph H. Bowles. 

Scott’s Marmion. Edited by George B. Aiton, State Inspector of High 
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ENGLISH CLASSICS 


Shakespeare’s As You Like It. Edited by Charles Robert Gaston. 

Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Edited by L. A. Sherman, Professor of English 
Literature in the University of Nebraska. 

Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. Edited by George W. Hufford and Lois 
G. Hufford, High School, Indianapolis, Ind. 

Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice. Edited by Charlotte W. Under- 
wood, Lewis Institute, Chicago, 111. 

Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Edited by C. W. French. 

Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Edited by Edward P. Morton, Assist- 
ant Professor of English in the University of Indiana. 

Shelley and Keats (Selections from). Edited by S. C. Newsom. 

Southern Poets (Selections from). Edited by W. L. Weber, Professor of 
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Spenser’s Faerie Queen, Book I. Edited by George Armstrong 
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Stevenson’s Treasure Island. Edited by H. A. Vance, Professor of 
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Tennyson’s The Princess. Edited by Wilson Farrand, Newark 
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Ten^son’s Idylls of the King, Edited by W. T. Vlymen, Principal of 
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Tennyson’s Shorter Poems. Edited by Charles Read Nutter, In- 
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John Woolman’s Journal. 

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Old English Ballads. Edited by Professor WILLIAM D. Armes, of the 
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Kingsley’s The Heroes, Edited by Charles A. McMurry. 

Macaulay’s Poems. Edited by Professor Franklin T. Baker. 

Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. Edited by Clifton Johnson. 

The Arabian Nights’ Entertainments. Edited by Clifion Johnson. 

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Hawthorne’s Grandfather’s Chair. Edited by Charles A. McMurry. 


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66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 





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